So We Were Wrong...

The last time I blogged I told you guys that we were probably expecting a little girl.  Yep, we were wrong!  We went for our official ultrasound, and we are pretty certain that we are having a little BOY!  Anders and I are thrilled, and the little guy was not shy about showing off his goods.  So without further ado, here is "Asher Aron Martin!"

The little guy was measuring just right for his gestational age and looked good.  We are going to have another ultrasound in 8 weeks because they couldn't see everything they wanted.  So, I guess we get to peek at him again soon.

The name Asher means "happy and blessed" and that is just how Anders and I feel!  It is also the name that I (Carlie) was going to have if I had been a boy.  Aron is Anders' middle name.  We like that little Asher will have his Daddy's initials, and it's a little bit of both of us.  We are so thankful for this blessing and cannot wait to meet him in August!

Update from the Martins

As most of you probably already know, Anders and I are excited to finally announce on the the blog that we are expecting the arrival of our 1st child at the beginning of August!

The picture is at 10ish weeks, but I will be 16 weeks tomorrow.  I'm feeling pretty good.  There were a few weeks of feeling pretty icky and tired, but things are much better now.  We took a sneak peak at Baby Martin's gender, and we are pretty sure it's a Girl!  Although Anders and I didn't really care what gender Baby M turned out to be, we are very excited to welcome a little girl.  Knowing my love of all things girly, one of my high school friends told me, "God knew you needed a little girl."  I think Anders will have a great time with a baby girl and I feel pretty certain she will have him (and probably me) wrapped around her little finger.

I'm glad to finally share this news with you and cannot wait to keep you updated on the nursery progress and other baby related things.

Secondly,  I'm very excited for spring to arrive.  Spring is my favorite time of the year for many reasons like my birthday, warmer weather, flowers, and The Cherry Blossom Festival.  So hopefully, I will have some non-baby related things to talk about.

Thanks for checking in with us!

Long time no see

Hey Friends, I'm back. I have absolutely no good excuse for not writing, except for I just haven't wanted to. We have been having lots of fun in the meantime.


Anders entered his late 20's. To celebrate, we went to Atlanta and had a nice dinner and stayed at the Intercontinental Buckhead. Then on his actual birthday, we met up with his family to celebrate. He was very celebrated and I think is enjoying his late 20's so far.

We tried some new recipes. I'm really loving skinnytaste.com! The above is Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken we LOVE it and it's super easy to make on a busy day.

We celebrated our first anniversary.  The year old cake was surprisingly delicious.  I'm so thankful for Anders and still delighted to be his wife.  

We celebrated by going to Beaver Creek, CO.  Neither of us had ever been to Colorado, so it was a wonderful opportunity to relax, see a new part of the country, and enjoying being together.

Our hotel had a Spago, so we celebrated there on our actual anniversary.  The food was amazing and the company was even better!

The last day there we took the concierge's suggestion and went on a hike.  Now, I should state for the record that neither of us is athletic.  We enjoy being outside and it seemed like a very Colorado thing to do. So after talking it over with our European concierge and being assured that "if her 60-something year-old parents could do it, we would have no problem," we took the hike to Hanging Lake.   The hike nearly killed us, but the view was breath-taking.  We were passed by people caring small children and the elderly, and looking back I should have realized that Europeans are in much better shape than we are, but overall we had a good time and made a memory. 

Whew,  that was a lot for September!  I think I'm going to give October a post of it's own!  It's nice to be back to sharing with y'all.  Here's hoping I can keep it up! 

What we have been up to

Hey Friends, Sorry I've kinda left y'all without a post in a while. We have been busy bees these last couple of weeks! So here's what we've been up to...

We celebrated my brother and sister-in-law's birthdays. Kyle's birthday is at the beginning of the month and Allison's is at the end, so they split the difference and we celebrated in the middle with a delicious brunch at Parish in Inman Park. It was so yummy! We had a wonderful time with everyone, then the Birthday people had to hit the road, so we milled around Virginia Highlands, then headed home. On the way home we stopped at one of my favorite place J Crew Outlet! Hurray for a couple new clothing items for both me and Anders!

Unfortunately, at the end of July we received a call letting us know that Anders' sweet grandfather had passed away. Roscoe, or Papa, was a wonderful and Godly man who passed into eternity praising his Father in heaven and loving his family. What a mark of a life well-lived! Papa was a man of many talents, who had a great love for people. He was funny, a little flirty, and very, very wise. Although we will miss him greatly, it is such a comfort to know that he is at home with his Savior! We celebrated his life last weekend with a sweet funeral service and reception afterward. At both events it was clear to see he had had a great impact on many lives and he will be greatly missed!

Anders and I also had the opportunity to head down to my family's beach house for 4 nights. It was a wonderful time to rest and relax! While we do love hanging out with family and friends, it was really nice after a stressful week for it just to be the 2 of us.

We had a wonderful time and are so thankful to be able to use the beach house. We basically did nothing but lay around, read, and eat delicious seafood. We hit up some of our favorite restaurants, but for me nothing tops The Red Bar's crab cakes and Key lime pie! I think we waited for around 2 hours for a table, but it was well worth the it! We love going down there and can't wait to do it again!
Until next time,
Carlie
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Sunday Breakfasts

When I first got married, I had all these great dreams of getting up early on Sunday mornings and cooking a delicious breakfasts for my husband. Well, the first couple of Sundays came and went with us trying to fulfill my dream and ending up rushed and grumpy as we headed to church. Over time we fine-tuned our Sunday routine to allow for either a quick breakfast standing in the kitchen or a Starbucks run on the way to church.

So, I think that means that I'm probably just too lazy to get up a little earlier than normal. Oh well, we are much happier with our new routine than me being constantly frustrated by the fact that I'm not Susie Homemaker.

This Sunday, Anders I had did have a nice little breakfast made completely of food bought at a local market on Saturday. First, you ought to know that Anders and I are not lovers of health food. We like it alright and know it's good for us, but if we were to be honest we both would rather have doughnuts, candy, and fast-food. However, in light of the fact that we would both like to live to a ripe old age, we are making strides to do better with our eating. So the yummy and not unhealthy meal you see pictured is some-type of homemade, whole grain bread with seeds in it, with locally grown and made peach jelly and a fresh peach. It was delicious and hopefully this is a first step to happy Sunday mornings and a long healthy life.

Happy Fourth!

Well friends, the fourth came and went and we had a blast! Anders had an "energy day" at work of Friday which meant that he got to stay home from work that day, and I was thankful to get to leave work a little early on Friday. So we got to spend the afternoon nursing our latest addiction, Glee! Then we were off to a fun-filled Saturday. We recently started the couch to 5K program, so we started at the gym then ended up with our friends, the Meyers, for and afternoon at the pool. The day wrapped up with dinner and a blizzard with one of my former roommates, Katie and her husband John David.

Sunday was another busy day. We tidied up our severely neglected backyard for an impromptu cookout with some friends. About 30 minutes before our guests were due to arrive, it started pouring down rain. Then about 15 minutes later we lost power. Great. Thankfully all of our guests were good sports and the power returned before we blew ourselves up trying to light the pilot light on our gas oven. Yikes!

On Monday we headed over to our friends' home know as, "The Shed." Traditionally, the guys in this home host an amazing party complete with homemade BBQ, karaoke, fireworks, and tons of friends. This year they did not disappoint!
This is a photo of some of our good friends watching fireworks at our local country club. We had a great time!

After such a busy weekend it was not fun to have to go back to work. I don't know why 4 day work weeks always seem to be so long. So we were definitely looking forward to this weekend, and our upcoming vacation!

Happy 4th of July

Well folks, I cannot believe it's already July! We have already had a great weekend full of food and friends and are looking forward to a day of relaxing and more food and more friends. We are headed to our friends' 4th annual 4th of July Party tonight. It has historically been awesome and we have high hopes for another amazing night of Boston butts, karaoke, and fireworks. Hopefully some great pictures will becoming soon.

Anyway, Happy Independence Day! Many thanks to all the men and women who have fought for the freedoms that we enjoy everyday.