you + me

Keeping up with the Archibalds

2009-06-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

Olivia wanted to find her prince and thought kissing the porch decoration was a good idea.. I think she realized that Daddy was WAY better then anyone prince.

Then she decided to blow me away with her beauty. I cant believe how big and gorgeous she is growing up to be. I love that face. Look at those curls.. I'm so in love with this sweet girl.

Mommy and Daddy made a pretty important pinky promise. I hope everyone knows the importance of a pinky promise. It's huge.

We went and rooted for Cito! Tumwater made it to state! It was SO hot in Selah. We drank a lot of water and Olivia had a blast playing on the bleachers and with everyone who would pay attention to her!

Tumwater won 3-2! GO T-BIRDs!!!

I just died again. She is gorgeous. Forget Daddy having the shotgun, Momma's gonna have the shotgun in her lap next to her crocheting when any boy shows up. (crocheting?.. momma? ..whatever!)

I'm on day 3 of Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. I ache. I'm tired and I hate that stupid lady. But I feel amazing at the same time. I still dont have any hand weights. I've been using canned food. It works just as well and is cheaper. Maybe I'll pick some up at goodwill or a yardsale. For now. Mandarin and Refried Beans work GReAT!

**Please excuse Blogger for being a complete retard. I dont know why everything is scattered all whacky! Oh well. Atleast there are pictures here.

I GET TO SEE MY MOMMA IN 2 DAAAYS!!!!

Sometimes..

2009-05-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

Olivia and I were feeling silly today :)

Hope you have a silly day today too! :)

Happy Memorial Day :)

2009-05-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

Olivia wanted to wish you a happy memorial day weekend!

And to thank all the great men and women out there that fought for our freedom!

A special thanks to Uncle John and Cousin Shawn!

We love you!

like father, like daughter..

2009-05-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

I cant help but laugh at this picture every time I look at it.

They are both so cute and I love them soo much :)

busy bee's

2009-05-13T08:28:00.001-07:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/hugsnsprinkles/SpringSummer

we are here! :) Just been busy. Here are some recent pics! xoxoxo

I love my Mommy

2009-05-10T07:01:00.000-07:00

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living..

My Mommy you'll be!

I love you Mom!!!!!

Thanks for teaching me to be creative, and constantly rewarding my efforts with a "agh! shutup! that looks good Ashlee" Thanks for calling me Hunny when I call you on the phone and for all the 2 hour chats. I wish we could talk for 2 hours at the dining room table with coffee instead. Thanks for being my best friend, I know I can tell you anything. You are such a wonderful Grandma, not only to Olivia but to Little Rob and Degan too. They are going to go to school one day and say "I have the BEST grandma ever!" Thanks for always being there. Through scraped knees, periods, boys, pregnancies and what to do when our husbands are driving us crazy!! I love you so much, you really are the best Mom! :)

ps. we dont have any cute pictures to put here.. can we change that soon? please?

Easter fun!

2009-04-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!!!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead"
1 Peter 1:3

(doesn't this make you wanna a bunny?

So you can pose them and walk them on a leash..)

Our Easter fun started on Saturday with Susan and Adrian. I boiled 2 dozens eggs! Susan brought over the dye and the mini crockpot to do chocolate fondue in :)

I knew that I couldnt hear Olivia in the kitchen while I was rinsing the eggs in a cold water bath. I found her in her bedroom playing and pulling things out of her closet.. *sigh*

The bright ones are Adrian's and mine.

The bottom ones are Mike's and Susan's.

Olivia wasn't really diggin' the whole egg dye thing.

I think she was overwhelmed and tired :(

We made hot wings and mashed potatos for dinner. The boys played video games and the girls watercolored in the princess coloring book :) It was great!

Sunday morning, we gave Olivia her easter basket. She didn't quite get it, but I think she likes seeing what would come out of the eggs. Her favorite part? Getting to eat jelly beans!

We all expected it to rain since it was so dreary out.

But mostly it was humid and cloudy!

We hid 5 eggs with snacks in them for Olivia. She loved it!

This picture makes me laugh because we put Olivia down and she booked it! And you can see how far away from the egg she really is..

When she was done, she handed me her basket and we went inside :)

you are my sunshine..

2009-04-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Olivia has been in an exceptionally good mood this morning. I even got her to smile at the camera while eating breakfast :)

This one is her super cheese smile. I love it. It makes me laugh!

Oh my goodness! God has blessed up with amazingly warm weather here! Olivia and I have been hanging out outside every minute we can! :) We lay on the blanket and read and eat munchies.

Look at that model stance! And those LEG ROLLS!! So yummy!
This is my new favorite view. shorts. a book and Olivia right next to me!

Daddy got home from work and immediatly joined us outside! It was ALOT of fun!

Warm weather means really cute outfits for Olivia! Thanks Aunty Tammy for getting me this outfit! I love capri's! Except i'm like aunty megs and my legs aren't quite long enough..

Olivia has been giving out kisses and she keeps her mouth closed now, which keeps it drool freee! :)

Tribute Tuesday

2009-04-07T09:33:00.001-07:00

Tuesday tribute is a day when you talk about someone else other than you. Technically my Daddy is the other half of me, but we'll just let it slide ;) Today, is Daddy's day. Maybe I should of saved this for fathers day, but nope! He deserves to be told every day how amazing and wonderful of a man he is. My Daddy, also known as Bingo, and Bing. He is known for words like disgruntles and cretin. (yup, i had to spell check those) Speaking of spellcheck, this man will call me in the middle of the day to ask me how to spell orange ;) I love that! I love that he picks up the phone and calls me. It means he is thinking about me..

When I lived at home, we would go to movies on Sunday afternoons. Just me and him. Those were the BEST days. We would go see whatever movie was playing and if there were no new ones, we would go see Lord of the Rings again! Which is explains why I saw the Two Towers 5 times at the theatre!! :) We got popcorn and peanut M&M's to put in the popcorn and soda. It was always the best day! We talked all the way there and all the way back. I could tell him anything.

To go back even farther, Daddy and I use to watch 8 o'clock TV together. Usually it was Buffy, Friends or X-Files. All included popcorn and Reese's peanut butter cups that he hide on the side of the bed for me and him. We love Buffy! :) That was our day. I look forward to that day all week. Not only to see the dreamy Angel, but to hang out with my daddy for an hour.

He is the very best. He is strong and hardworking. He makes me laugh and knows how to push my buttons!

Me: "Mom, he's touching me!"
Daddy: "Mom!!!"

Me: "Mooommmm"

Mom: "Alright you two.."

(We use to just do it to bug her.."

He calls me Smash. He is the only one. He is smart and loves to read. I give him all the credit for me being so smart and loving books. He is the best. Really he is. I couldn't have been more lucky to have my Daddy just the way he is.

I'm so thankful for Olivia to have a grandpa just the way he is! I cant wait for her to learn new and exciting facts from him.

Here are some randoms:

He collects Elephants. They resemble him, since he is so huge..
Round 2 Its
"Smash get me a Pepsi"
Whistles with his hands!! (I still cant do this)
Has the best gut busting laugh
Will always be my number 1 man.
Our song is "Time after Time" by Cindi Lauper

"Meddle Not In The Affair Of Dragons For You Are Crunchy And Taste Good With Ketchup"

Because of him, I cant listen to such songs as "You Can Let Go" and the end of "Cowgirls Don't Cry" doesn't matter what kind of mood I'm in. My eyes get wet and I start crying.

Here to you Daddy. I love you! Forever and ever

♥ Smash :)

happenings :)

2009-04-06T04:05:00.000-07:00

Spring has suprised us with 2 beautiful sunny and warm days! It has just been soo gorgeous outside! It was been wonderful! I forgot how much I missed the sunshine! :) We took Olivia outside on saturday and we played in the backyard. Mike and I must not of been as fun as climbing up and down the step and playing in the crackly leaves.

Olivia got to visit her Grandma Nancy on thursday! She must of been havin a good time because everytime I called Mike, I could hear her laughing or howling in the background :) Thanks Nancy for taking care of my family! :)

It was another beautiful day yesterday and we finally got to take out the wagon Olivia got for her birthday! She loves it! She held on to the sides and loves being to look around everywhere! She ever brought along her best friends, Wally and Waddles :)
The swings weren't such a big hit this time. She must be "over" them. But she did enjoy them for a little while! Mostly, she just wanted to sort out rocks.

What have you been up too?

Love you Aunt Grace and Uncle Bill :(

2009-04-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Grace and Uncle Bill died yesterday :( This is pretty sad news. I love you so much! :(

Together to the end: Senior couple dies at same time

ELLENSBURG -- Charles and Grace Elkins, Ellensburg residents active for many years in the Kittitas County Fair and local historical activities, died together Wednesday morning after medics responded to their home on Hannah Road, authorities and friends said.

Charles Elkins, a retired telephone company technician, was 78. Grace Elkins, the retired curator of the Kittitas County Historical Museum, was 76.

Kittitas County sheriff's officials said deputies and Ellensburg medics responded to the couple's home shortly after 7 a.m. because Charles Elkins was having difficulty breathing. While they were trying to revive him, Grace Elkins began having medical problems and became
unconscious. Both died at the scene, officials said.

The couple was married for more than 50 years.

Both had Ellensburg blue agates fashioned into their wedding rings after Grace Elkins found the stones during her rockhounding years in the 1970s, according to a Yakima Herald-Republic article in 2000.

Friends said they were well known around the Ellensburg area for their many activities.
"They were just kind of always there," said Roylene Crawford, manager of the visitor center at the Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce. "Every time that I would see them, they would be together."

Charles Elkins retired from the AT&T telephone company, where he maintained transmission towers, said Marvin Kelley, a longtime friend.

Grace Elkins grew up in Roslyn, where her father was a miner, Kelley said. She was a local historian and served two stints as curator of the Kittitas County Historical Museum between 1991 and 2001, according to a biography by the museum.

Along with Kelley, Charles Elkins was instrumental in building the fairgrounds' Frontier Village, a popular collection of reconstructed buildings that includes an antique school and store.
"He was the guy I asked for help, and he was always right there," said Kelley, who served on the fair board with Charles Elkins.

Grace Elkins helped tend flowers on the fairgrounds for many years and wrote historical accounts about the fair.

Both also were active at Olmstead State Park, a working farm on an original homestead southeast of Ellensburg.

The couple had three surviving children and several grandchildren, according to an anniversary notice published in the Yakima Herald-Republic last fall.

Arrangements are pending through Steward and Williams Tribute Center in Ellensburg.

catch up .. or ketchup?

2009-04-02T05:25:00.001-07:00

My sister Mel and my Mom got to come over for 3 days!! It was so much fun! I'm so excited that my sister could make it over!! I got to meet my new nephew, Degan. Isn't he the sweetest!? He is such a serious baby. He loved looking around and taking everything in. I love cuddling him and taking his sweet baby smell in. Olivia wasn't too sure about him. He wanted to play with him. But she was very gentle and even "petted" him. She would walk away from us and check on him to make sure he was still in the same spot she left him.

My beautiful and patient sister! She is such a great Mommy. He looks just like her! He is fair skinned and has the most beautiful blue eyes! I got to play with the camera a little bit and take some pictures of Degan. He was so easy. He just layed there and looked at me.

I even got a smile..

Mom, Mel and I made easter egg wreaths! Browsing through blogs, I came across Cindi's blog. (http://cindis.blogspot.com/2009/03/moms-do-some-grass-this-month.html) She had a GREAT tutorial on make these wreaths out of plastic eggs! They turned out SO cute. Mine didn't end up with a bow, i couldn't find just the right ribbon, so I'm waiting.

My beautiful Sister and Mom

My sister was getting SO mad at the grass you had to stuff between the eggs. It was hilarious!
How cute are we!?! .. oh our wreaths are cute too! :) Mel's is Jelly Beans! Mom and I just stuck with eggs :)

A big thanks to my Hubby for letting all these women crash his house! I love you Baby! You are the best!! :)

Featured:

2009-03-21T07:48:00.000-07:00

how exciting is this?! I was featured as a friday five on scrapblog! It's usually where I make the headers for my blog and I made this most recent one and was choosen! :) Go look http://www.blog.scrapblog.com/ :) :)

please please no autographs.. ;) jk

Can you believe it!?

2009-03-18T03:46:00.000-07:00

I didnt do one thing to celebrate St. Patricks Day!? Nope. Not one. I'm usually all for fun holidays! I celebrate Talk like a Pirate Day, Valentines and Easter. I just didn't have it in me this year. I'm sick. I know, lame excuse but I dont mind. The cold that I got has wiped me out! So next year, I'm going to make little green feet everywhere, scatter fun gold coins, and leave green food colored water in the toilet.. Sorry Martha, I just didn't have it in me.

my favorite things

2009-03-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

Finding old pictures on the camera! Look at little Olivia.

Did I mention, I miss my sister?

She is the best.

The girl in the center. My best friend. The one on the right isn't so bad either ;)

Snow so thick it looks like a snow globe outside

(as long as it disapears by the weekend)

Olivia hair is finally long enough for real piggie tails, not just antennas!

"romantic mama"

2009-03-08T04:07:00.001-07:00

Today, I miss my sister. My beautiful sister Melissa. I never called her Melissa, unless I was super mad at her. I called her Melly. Now, it's just Mel or sissy.

Growing up, she and I never got along! We shared a room. It was inevitable. I was always too messy, she was too bossy. Sometimes though, when the moon was full, we played dolls and house together. We played cops and robbers outside too. She was the BEST hider. I still dont know where she hid! Friday nights were always my favorite! She and I would get the emergency candles from under the sink and have a special sister dinner. We called it "Romantic Mama" It usually consisted of cinnamon toast, and orange juice in a champange glass. We would make a toast and I would always says "you are the best sister I ever had" and she would come back with "Ash, i'm your only sister..."

When my brother moved out, she and I finally got our own rooms. We slowly started to realize that we had more in common than we thought. We were both doing that akward, "i'm trying to find the man of my dreams in highschool" and trying to NOT fit in. (we were unique ;) ) We both LOVE really bad movies like Cry Baby, Grease and Dirty Dancing. (ps. they aren't bad to our standards, but everyone else..) We have the same exact laugh, I love her laugh. I love how our laughs echo through a room.

I miss my sister.

2009-03-03T07:28:00.000-08:00

Here are the birthday pictures from Liv's birthday. :)
I'm being lazy. sue me ;)

http://picasaweb.google.com/hugsnsprinkles/BirthdayFun

an elephants faithful 100 percent..

2009-03-03T05:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!
(well, it was technically yesterday, but whatver..)

"Today you are you, that is truer than true.
There is no one alive who is youer than you"

Oh Dr. Seuss! What a wonderful man you must of been.
I hope I will always remember when.
Sitting in the big comfy chair.
On daddy's lap,
a giant brown bear. ;)

Reading green eggs and ham.
oh, Sam I am!

I wish I could go back in time..
to the tongue tie-tiers
and rhymes.

hoooray!

2009-03-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

We got our new computer 2 days early!! I'm such a geek, I put it all together by myself! Mike is at work. I didn't want to wait! But we are ALIVE!! I'll make a real post, this afternoon after Mike and I get our computer fixes!

Miss everyone! xoxoxox

im here...

2009-02-25T08:34:00.001-08:00

Just thought I would let everyone know that we are all great! Our new computer should be here wednesday! Accompanied by a external hard-drive! Im super excited! :)

Olivia's birthday turned out fantastic! :) Pictures soon!

xoxoxo!

im here...

2009-02-25T08:34:00.000-08:00

Love is in the airrrr

2009-02-14T11:27:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!!

We had a great valentines day! I got to sleep in til 8! I know that's unheard of in my life! :) And Mike and I had a great time giving each other our gifts. Olivia got a pony and an outfit! Mike and I both got each other stuffed animals and coupons. Can you tell we are married?

I made Mike 2 things this year. I did a 52 reasons mini book! It was such a blast to put together and think up why I love him. It wasn't hard to think up ideas! :) And I made him a card from Olivia. He loved them both. I wont bore you too much, with the reasons I love my sexy hubby.
Here is one of the reasons.

Some highlights were : you brew my coffee for me in the morning.

you are so good to Olivia.

you think i'm sexy in anything but nothing is always better.

you keep me grounded.

you always kiss me like you mean it.

you know exactly when you hug me.

Basically, I have the best hubby on the planet ;)

Here is our little lovebug in her valentines outfit! She looks so cute! :) Thanks Aunty Heather for the blankie :)

We bought a rjocker glider! We got it off craigslist! It is a really nice one and I think we got it for a steal! I'm so excited for this. It will be great when Olivia is sick, and even better when we have a new baby. I'm gonna try nursing again and it will help me relax. I secretly think Mike bought it so he could relax.. just dont tell him that ;)

this is a mean face, because I was making fun of him.

5 Favorite Things..

2009-02-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

These are my five favorite thing right now..

(http://www.littlefiori.com/)

1) Finding things for Olivia's birthday that has to be pink or zebra striped! These are not it. I could easily make these, but aren't they sweet.. just TOO many meshing ideas. I'm so EXCITED to plan her birthday. I'm ALMOST done getting everything I need.. no sneak peek. you'll just have to wait!

2) Watching this sweet girl grow into a fun filled ball of energy. She is absolutly beautiful and I cant believe that she will be one in 7 whole days!! My days are filled with laughing, pouting and serious drool kisses, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

3) Incase you didnt realize, your local departmant store barfed pink and red. Valentines is friday! I love valentines. Mom and I would take a whole night after dinner and make my "mailbox" She pulled out all the stops. She let me take out every craft item and just go for it. My box ALWAYS won class vote. That's because we are the people everyone hates. The "creative" people. Mom, I feel like we should highfive! I've been writing down ideas. printing tutorials and coming up with "traditions" for Olivia.

4) Coffee. I love waking up before the chickens, and enjoying my coffee and my own time to just think. pray and get ready for the next day.

5) Anticipating my sisters baby! She is being induced on tuesday if he doensn't come soon! I love calling her to see if she has has any signs and then tell her that I only weigh 120lbs :) And I can roll from my front to my back without any problem. She then proceeds to call me a bad name. :( How dare she! :) She is going to be such a good mom and i cant wait to take in the sweet scent of new baby and hug my best friend.

a recap :)

2009-01-25T04:21:00.000-08:00

"but Ash, it's only 5 am!.."

This is why I love waking up early. Before Olivia gets up. I love to sit down, listen to music and read a little. Maybe think up different craft projects or things I want to do. I make my grocery list for the week if I need too. Mostly, I just love the calm. Being able to just think :)

These are just some cute pics of Olivia in the bath. She loves the bath. She always has, and I think it's adorable when she smacks the water and it splashes on her.

Olivia will be a year next month. She is 11 months and 5 days old. I cant believe it. I cant believe that sweet girl was once a newborn. Everyday she becomes more independent and learns something new. She amazes both Mike and I.

Look at that beautiful smile and big dimpled cheeks!

Around here, pig tails have been a hit! She is adorable and I cant believe how much her hair has grown in the last couple of months! :) This was when she was rough housing with Daddy! She looks just him in that pic..

whelmed.

2009-01-17T10:05:00.000-08:00

"I know that you can be overwhelmed. and underwhelmed..

But can you ever just be whelmed"

"I think you in europe you can"
-10 things I hate about you

Okay, well maybe I just feel overwhelmed by the piles of schtuff in my bedroom. *Mike and I usually dont give a hoot about our room. **We close the door when company is here and push things out of the way when need be, but I'm about to go bananas!

*I mean just me. i'm a mess ;)
**and by we, I mean me

Maybe I should go take pictures of my other rooms so that everyone doesn't think i'm entirely unkept ;) One of the reasons for the second pile, is that we dont have a bookcase. I want a big one! Because Mike and I have ALOT of books. I guess, I could stop being stingy and give them away, but they are mine and I love them.

...hopefully messy isn't genetic...

PS. If you see cheap bookcases. call me. beep me. text me. :)

And in other news, I caught this adorable mouse stealing cheese :)

Look Grandpa Bingo!! I can have a pony tail now!!!!

And she is starting to look more like me! :)

HOORAY!!!

I cant believe that Olivia is ALMOST 11 months. And she took more steps last night!! She walked all the way across the living room! I laughed. I cried. We clapped! It was amazing.

And she likes to dance. She bounces up and down when she hears a song she likes. Lately, it's been Kanye West and Katy Perry...

...you can definatly tell she has been hanging out with Mom in the mornings.. hehe

Ode to Green. Cheeeeeese. Gap Ad ;)

2009-01-13T06:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Green Minerals

Thank you for being in my life.

Thanks for being the only thing that covers my rosacea.

Those awful red bumps and rosy cheeks

are gone thanks to you!

Please never leave my makeup bag.

I would not be fair without you ;)

<33'>

Seriously though, this stuff is amazing. I know it doesn't look like much, and everyone is probably thinking that it would make your face a slight tinge of green, but oh no! Even Mike has seen the difference! It's spendy, I will admit. But honestly, it's the only thing that gives me even skin WITHOUT the yucky cakey stuff...

Am I starting to sound like an infomercial? ;)

Okay, can we please talk about how much of an amazing Mommy I am?? ;) Just kidding, but I did teach Olivia to smile when I say CHEESE! I have proof :

Cheesy right? But sooo cute!

And ohh.. the sweet innocence of youth, I got asked from a little girl {kinda rudely, i'm not gonna lie..} why I had a crack in my teeth. WHOA. I dont know if her family believed in God, but I kindly {okay, maybe a little matter of factly} told her that that was how God made me...

I hope Olivia is curious, I really do. But, I also hope she realizes true beauty is on the inside and that God makes everyone different...

Well, no stupid boys in middle school/highschool are gonna get me down, and neither is a 7 year old.. SO THERE! =P

2 cups of coffee down already??

2009-01-12T05:56:00.000-08:00

And I still have a full pot. I'm loving this morning. I'm listening to Pandora Radio. Drinking Coffee and reading blogs.. ahhh sweet bliss!

We had a wonderful day yesterday. It was warm outside! it would of been warmer but the ellensburg wind decided to join us on our trip to the park. Susan and Adrian got to come with up too!! We walked to the park all bundled up to the brave the elements :) We got to swing on the baby swings, teeter tottered with susan, and then played on the big girl swings. Olivia loved every part of it! She was so happy the whole time. Who wouldn't be? Swings are the best thing ever! I forgot that I get extremely swing-sick on them.. So Mommy just took pictures and swayed a little.

**maybe a little swing picture overload, but she is so beautiful and happy. I cant help it ;)

She enjoyed riding the teeter totter pony with Aunty Susan and Uncle Ad

rian. I cant wait for them to give me babies! They are going to be amazing parents. They have so much love to give :)

And what's this? A moment of sweetness? Olivia is actually letting someone hold her and eat..;)

Do you ever get tired of our faces ;) That's all for now. I'm sure my bliss will end soon with a hungry girl.

i promise we are alive :)

2009-01-10T10:54:00.001-08:00

We've started off the New Year with a bang! Mike and I got to kiss at midnight and Olivia just barely made it. She was asleep by 11:30. We had a great time bring in 2009 with good friends, food and beer :)
I've started working more hours for insurance sake, which means that I'm working til 10 or 11 o'clock at night! Yuck! As for everything else..

Olivia is talking ALOT more. Different vowels and letters. She is standing up. Eating more and more different foods everyday. And is growing right before our eyes :) Here are some recent pics from the digital camera :)

Waking up!

Hanging out with Mommy

Pretty girl

Just for laughs, we put her in the swing, she thought it was hilarious! :)

i love charlie brown xmas!! :)

2008-12-22T07:14:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here, and I'm listening to pandora {online radio} and I chose Charlie Brown Christmas. And it makes my throat ache and my heart hurt. Mom, Daddy and I use to watch this together. We would sit on the bench at the end of the bed, and watch snoopy ice skate and Charlie Brown get upset that the spirit of christmas was lost, and get the cutest little tree.. Oh Charlie Brown.

We have been enjoying all the beatiful snow that we are thankfully taking in with open arms :) I bribed mother nature with sugar cookies :) It worked! We have almost a foot of snow! I love it! It makes Ellensburg beautiful! :)

Miss Olivia loves watching Daddy shovel the driveway and sidewalks. She would get excited and smile when she saw Daddy. :)

She however, hates the snow. Doesn't like being cold or her snow suit. She looks pretty dang cute in it though. We went out first with the jacket, and then she decided she hated that, so we took the jacket off and put the hat back on and she enjoyed that a little bit. The green thing in her hand, that's a parrot from the fridge and she loves it! :) We dont have an "official" lovey, but she rotates between a few different things :)

I love this one, because it looks like she is just letting the bird play in the snow. :) LOL.

I, however, cant get enough of it! It makes me almost giddy. I played in it all by myself! I wish it was more wet, because then I would have the CUTEST snowman on the planet in my front yard. Maybe in a few more days it will harden up...

We put Olivia in her crib, when we eat dinner. We give her toys and stuff to play with, but it makes dinner less stressful. Anyways, we didn't hear here when we were going to get her and we went into her room and found her like this. folded in HALF and sleeping. She is such a sweet girl... and great for storage ;)

Here is a beautiful smile that fills me with so much joy.

She had gotten brave enough to actually touch the tree. She liked this icicle, the best :) But she has recently realized there are WAY cooler ones on the tree and tries to reach for those ones.

Mike and I were lucky enough to get to go on a date friday. We went and saw Seven Pounds at the theatre. Which was a GREAT movie. One of those, you have to watch til the end to know what's going on.. And then we went to starbucks and got a peppermint mocha twist and went to look at xmas lights. These were our favorites.
that is a giant waddles with a hat! We want to steal him... or find one that looks like him. :)
Lame excuse to take a picture of my butt..

We got a new pan from Macy's for xmas. And it came in this HUGE box. So we put Olivia in it. She LOVED it :)

Sorry Martha. These were my xmas cookies this year. I'm also making chocolate covered peanut butter balls, monster cookies, and frozen cookie dough batter :)

That's it for now. The snow has finally stopped. Thank goodness. It needs to hold off til Heather and Milo get here! :) There is a storm coming wednesday. All my life, I've wanted a white christmas. Living in Oly, it didn't happen. Now, I think i will get my wish. :)

God Bless on this joyous holiday.

just a quickie ;)

2008-12-14T09:06:00.001-08:00

We are enjoying the first snow of the year. Just not the first real cold snap of the year. The wind is picking up today and it's making it almost unbearable to even be outside.

We finally got to put up our christmas tree. We went up the lions rock this year and got one ourselves and saved about 15 bucks :)
I cut off ALL my hair after having a terrible trim. I LOVE IT!!!

Olivia enjoyed her first xmas cookie.. actually, she STOLE it and wouldn't give it back. But how can you say no to such a sweet face. About an hour later, there was a story on the news, about kids and tooth decay. oops :) It's a good thing she LOVES getting her teeth brushed.

I'm pretty excited to say that ALL our christmas cards will get sent out tomorrow :) With photo's AND family letters, can you believe it???

Olivia is finally in a big girl car seat! How cute is she all bundled up for winter??

I'm gonna go and pick up the living room and wait for this handsome boy to come home so we can have hot cocoa and cuddle :)

Olivia walking

2008-12-10T06:36:00.000-08:00

I forgot that Olivia's car turned into a walking thing, so yesterday we played and I got her to walk!! The video isn't all that great, but our living room is only so big and when she gets moving, she books it! :)

this picture is for Megs. To show her Olivia's gap :)

morning :)

2008-12-09T07:41:00.000-08:00

I love the early mornings when I make perfect coffee, and get to kiss these perfect sweet cheeks of Miss Liv :) She was in the BEST mood this morning. She was laughing at everything I did, and when she got tired, she crawled up next to me and put her head in my lap. I love this beautiful girl :)

Best pictures ever.

2008-12-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

Santa Pic
We love food :)

the blahs.

2008-12-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

You never realize how many pictures actually consume your computer until you try to put them on a disk... or how about 20? That's how many we need to backup our photo's. I know I love my camera and I'm pretty point and shoot happy. but holy cow.

Mike and I were looking through all these pictures and realizing how much our little bug has grown in the last 9 months... and can you believe that her first birthday is just around the corner?

Dear Time,

Please stop going by so fast,

and if that's not possible,

please make sure I am keeping up.

Thanks for the consideration,

Ashlee

Archibald Look-alike Meter

2008-12-04T09:20:00.001-08:00

This thrills me beyond belief!! :) LOL

2008-12-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

Not much new in the Archibald house. So here are some random photo's for you :)

That's Olivia's oldschool little mermaid shirt. I think it's from the 80's :)

This may be my new favorite picture of miss liv. I'm going to put it in my kitchen

Wanna know why there weren't any 21 pictures? This is why. Obviously I'm a "whoo" girl

Olivia is big enough now for the big girl bath.

PS. After I saw this picture, I immediatly scrubbed the bathtub til I my hands were raw..

PSS. 3 DAYS TIL MY MOMMA'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!

...

2008-12-03T05:40:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving! We enjoyed being at Mom's house and eating ourselves full, Uncle Jeff, Grandpa and I kept buggin' them about when dinner was going to be ready, we watched football til we were tired of it and Mom and I stayed up til 11 :)
We went out last night with our friends Susan and Adrian! We wanted to get pictures taken for our christmas cards. Olivia did really good for being cold and sleepy :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/hugsnsprinkles/AutumnFun

Here are the pictures from thanksgiving :)

Here are the christmas pictures :) We still havent decided which one, so it will be a suprise! :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/hugsnsprinkles/December

6th folder. 6th picture.

2008-11-30T10:21:00.001-08:00

What a beautiful day to be surrounded by good friends. I wish that Heather and I were next door neighbors and could walk like this every day and just talk while our girls played together in the grass.

terrifc twofer tuesday.

2008-11-25T08:47:00.001-08:00

It's been fairly busy around the Archibald house. Here is a quick update. Olivia was 18.7lbs and 29 inches long at her 9 month check up. She got 3 shots but barely cried. She impressed everyone. Doctor J said she needed to eat more solids to be more chubby. So we are shoveling the food now ;) She is 95% for height and only 30% for weight. We have been enjoying sampling other foods and the last picture is of her eating an orange :) She has been busy pushing everything around and is giving me a run for my money :)

Happy 1 year

2008-11-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

Happy 1st Anniversary.
I still love you more and more everyday. Thanks for being my best friend, and knowing my heart so well. xox

2008-11-12T07:11:00.000-08:00

"How can you be happier with more, if you aren't happy with what you have?"
-fortune cookie

favorite pictures.

2008-11-11T06:52:00.001-08:00

Beautiful Girl!
She didnt want to get dressed! This was the result. Such a cute tushie!

See what happens when we try to be normal

This one is my favorite.

We look so much ALIKE! :) This is how we get excited!

Hey guess what? Tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!! I will have my first legal drink tomorrow night at 6! Hooray! I even got a cute new shirt to wear and earrings yesterday with Susan!

God Bless! xoxox

life

2008-11-09T09:12:00.000-08:00

Life seems to get ahead of me. Or maybe it's the lack of time that is really the problem. The last 2 weeks have been kinda hectic. It has been the same routine everyday. Wake up at 5, play with Olivia til Mike gets home at 11, get ready for work, work 12:30-5:30, come home, get everyone ready for bed. Bedtime at 7. Then we start all that over again. Notice there is no Mike and Ash time? It sucks. But here are some pictures to get you caught up on us.

it has been a yucky all week here. Secretly, I love to turn off the TV and listen to the rain fall.This proves that Olivia is our daughter. Here she is double fisting the halloween candy. Dont worry she couldn't actually get the wrappers open

Olivia has finally gotten over her cold. this is us booger sucking the snot out ;)
She has officially 3 teeth. 2 bottom and 1 top and is now cutting the other top one. And guess what? She has a gap ;)
Putting miss muffet to bed :)

3 days til my birthday. We found a babysitter, so we are going out for drinks on my birthday at the Starlight. I'm pretty excited for my my day! :) I even found my birthday ribbon! Then it's off to Tumwater to spend time with my best friend in the world. It's been long over due and dont think there wont be a camera FULL of pictures of us! The next morning, I'm heading up to Port Orchard for some GREAT family time. Maybe Mom will get a chocolate cream pie for my birthday ;) *hint*hint* My sister is coming over too!!! :) Oh man, I'm so excited!

2008-11-05T05:46:00.000-08:00

I feel like pouting. You know that feeling? Like you didn't get what you wanted and now you have to watch the other people be victorious? I dont like to loose. And I dont want these United States to go to hell. Sure, we all want lower taxes.. but at what cost? Raising other taxes on other things we need? Hopefully everyone will see, but in the mean time. Hey! We made history. Barack is the first black president. Now when we are old ladies, we can say "when I was your age, we had our first black president" :)

..but dont blame me, I voted for the old guy and my look-a-like ;)

Today is important.

2008-11-04T06:10:00.000-08:00

This morning is extremely important. This is the morning that I wont turn on the TV because I dont want to be bombarded with negative ad's on the TV and news casters with their biased opinions telling me false information. I really hope that everyone who could vote, got too. Mike and I did.

Yes, it's true. We do need change. Hopefully, there will be light at the end of the tunnel.

hoooray!

2008-11-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

I've been up since 2. And it's 6:45 pm. I'm so exausted. Olivia woke up hungry and wouldn't go back to sleep. I gave up trying at 4. Made a bagel and a pot of delicious coffee :) Thank God for coffee. I got to enjoy another morning with my hot baker! yess. I work on a tedious card for a sweet little girl that needs it ;) and had a suprisingly happy girl wake up from her nap. We spent the rest of the morning together hanging out and giggling. I even got to talk to my best friend in the world for an hour. It was THE BEST. Now, we will get online whenever we are on the computer, because it had been to long. {thanks megs} I had to work at 12:30, Mike watched miss bug and took that last picture of her after her nap. She was hilarious when I got home, because she was a little tired, but she was acting loopy! I was just sitting above her and she was cracking up! Laughing more then i've ever heard! It was amazing.

Now, i'm ready to snuggle with Mike and get some good sleep.

xoxoxo

God Bless

A day in the life

2008-11-02T17:50:00.000-08:00

Today seemed to be full of highs and not so many lows. {except when I lost Waddles. more on that later} I decided that I would take on the photography challenge and take all my photo's in black and white. And then my other idea, came from Ali Edwards, last month to do "A Week In The Life." Taking pictures of everyday things to remember all the stuff in your life. Later, I will print out pictures and bind them all together to make a scrapbook to have on my coffee table :)

6:15 - Woke up to the sound of Mike's car coming into the driveway. He has been coming home on his lunch for a while now, and I enjoy getting to see him and enjoy a cup of coffee with him. I woke up extremely groggy and drank the best cup of coffee in a while. I guess I dont adapt so well to time change. Fed Miss Piggy and let her play a little bit before I put her back down for a morning nap <3. Where would I be without those naps. I enjoyed surfing the internet, and blogging. I listened to Jack Johnson all morning. I looked around and realized the room was unkept and the bed wasn't made. The morning blahs.

8:30 - Got ready for the day. I love thermal shirts. Fed Olivia before we left to walk to Fred Meyers. It was a beautiful gloomy fall day. Put layers on Olivia and made her wear her cute coat. Enjoyed Fred Meyers although, I didn't buy really buy anything.

10:00 - Came home, ate a meal bar and am working on a GIANT bottle of water. That's one of my goals, to drink more water. :) Sunday means we get to relax. And I get to enjoy my gorgeous hubby being home. We put Olivia down for her nap, which she did not want to do. I tried to find her silly Penguin Waddles, but he was no where to be found. I was in a frenzy. I was crying because I lost my daughters best friend and because I gave Waddles to Mike for our first christmas. Finally, Mike left to see if it had be left at Fred Meyers. Thankfully, someone had turned it in.. :) :)

We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. We watched football, ran to fred's again to get some food for Olivia. And ended the night with cream of wheat. yum :)

All together, today was great! Olivia was pretty cranky all day, but I think her top teeth are coming because she was a drool machine. :) Today is day 2 of my blog everyday and I think i'm doing alright :)

God Bless!

xoxox

National Blog Posting Month ;)

2008-11-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

You know what this means?!

It means, that I'm posting every single day! YES! It is very exciting!!

So, since today is November 1st.. guess what?!

11 days til my BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I remember counting down when I was little, and telling my mom all the time how many days til my birthday just in case she forgot. And then putting my wish list on the refrigerator. One year, I got a talk boy pen, man I was soo excited. I dont even know why I wanted it, but I did and my daddy got it for me! :) I hate to say it, but my Daddy always gets me the BEST presents. Every year. And he picks them out all by himself. That's why I think they are so good. Last year, I got a cross necklace that was gorgeous and I haven't taken it off since :) This year, I told him I wanted a pea coat.. mm to be warm and cute in a gorgeous jacket with mittens and a scarf! :) :) :)

Oh! And Happy Halloween! We only had 4 trick or treaters. :( Now we have 3 bags of candy, in a bowl, taunting me to eat it. I was June Cleaver at work. Can you believe I didn't take a single picture? Wanna know the sad part? I had everything I needed for the outfit in my closet. Which is CRAZY! I wore a yellow button up dress with a cinched waist, a purple vintage apron, nylons, and heels. Then I had a rubber glove in my apron and a sponge and I wore my hair flipped out, with a polka dot headband. Megs would of been so proud.

..maybe I will put it on again, just to take a picture..

Anyways, here are some fun pictures that I just uploaded off the camera! :)

The front porch last night.

Olivia eating a banana all by herself.

How I spent my morning

My girl and I

Olivia and her pumpkin. She was very proud of it!

Daddy and Olivia, this morning. They we re just hanging out together. 10 minutes later, she was squawking and making all kinds of funny noises and having a good time playing with Daddy.

Do you ever..

2008-10-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get nervous taking pictures off your camera and then actually deleting them from the camera? I do every single time. I know, you should always back up your files, throw them on a CD and throw the CD somewhere that that incase of a fire that is the first thing you grab. [That, Olivia, and probably the half asleep husband asking why he smells cooked bacon] But I still get nervous! What if the CD is corrupt and there goes ever picture of Olivia eating squash for the first time!?

Anyways, Mike has the camera sitting here on the computer table, I think that means that he wants me to upload it or do SOMETHING with the full memory card of pictures. Alas, here I am, in the morning drinking coffee and uploading pictures, while our sweet girl is sleeping.

**By the way, she slept ALL. Thank to the vicks vapor rub, which i payed for in quarters because i didn't bring my wallet with me to work. And she is sleeping AgAIN! No boogers either ;)

So, I thought I would post some photo's :)

Nothing is better than playing in a pile of leaves! :)

Between this and a scrap of fleece fabric she carries around with us, why did i buy real toys?

Look at those DELICIOUS thighs!

This is our girl yesterday, Mike said she layed on the couch

like this for half an hour.. that's not our girl at all

She did find time in her day to polish the tables.. :)

God Bless!

xox

the vicious cycle..

2008-10-28T07:35:00.001-07:00

Since I was sick.. it's only right that my beautiful girl get sick as well...

Sick baby includes:
-not sleeping through the night.
-waking up every hour screaming
-lots of goop in her nose
-wet diapers and #2's because of said goop
-hearing her down the hall and across the living room because she snorts.
-a extremly lovey girl, who just wants to sit on her momma's lap with her head on her chest.

She does look pretty cute in her green alligator jammies. Tomorrow we are going to the doctor if her nose doesn't change back to clear. I would love a babysitter for a couple hours, so I could take a nap.. :) :)

Perfect fall weekend!

2008-10-21T07:43:00.000-07:00

Even though it was completely busy, Mike was tired and being an oof on saturday/sunday. We had the BEST weekend! And it started on a Thursday! :) What's better than that? Nothing :)

Thursday: Neither of us had to work, we got up at 6ish and had breakfast and got ready to enjoy a drive up Wenatchee! We really just wanted to see the colors up Blewett Pass, oh my goodness they were beautiful. It looked like a wildfire. Oranges and yellows scattered between the pine trees. I love fall. Add in some super cute side fruit stands, i was in awe. While in Wenatchee, was had to do the basics. Go to Costco before our membership was up, because I dont think we'll go again. Got our usuals, sun dried tomatos, carnation breakfast for mike and I haggled with Mike to let me get Olivia a really cute purple outfit :) We stopped at Target, because it's always nessasary when it's near by! And then stopped at Sonic and ate [Message to Daddy:haha, I had Sonic and yoooou didnt!!] Needless to say, Wenatchee really wore us out, even though we STILL want to move there! :) We came home, rested for half an hour, and set foot for our next adventure of the pumpkin patch!! :) We went to the one in Thorp because it was an actual patch and we have to support Thorp :) It was fun, there was even more pumpkins than last year, except that I think they forgot to turn alot of them, because most of the ones we looked at were mushed on the sides :(

After looking at all the patches, and at all the pumpkins, we all decided on the pefect one! And even Olivia got to get one! :) Hers is very cute! :)
We were suppose to have dinner with the Brady's but we were all very tired and 2 members of my family were grumpy :) So we came home and relaxed!! :) THANK GOODNESS!!

Friday: We got to wake up and not rushed, we enjoyed our morning together, got a call from Heather, said she would be there that morning. I was pretty excited because I had never met my sister in law!! :) It was awesome! I wish they would of stayed longer. Jae is so cute and her and Olivia were having fun together! It was great that Olivia finally got to meet her cousin and a REAL aunt! :)
At 4 that night, we were meeting up with Heather J. for the girls to go trick or treating at her parent's house! Olivia was a lady bug and Lydia was a cow! Oh my gosh, they were both so stinkin' cute! :) We took them outside to get fall pictures in the leaves. :) There were many "awws" going around. The pictures turned out great!

This one I think is my favorite, and no one was sure if they got the picture or not..

This picture, Olivia went and saw Mary Ellen, and then gave her a KISS!! and than wanted her mom again.. HOW CUTE

Then we were off to the cornmaze! The cornmaze was fun! Heather and I got to talk about the girls and how they were doing. I really enjoyed talking to her! Olivia and Lydia had the best seat, they were both in the backpacks! :) We got through the corn maze quick! :) We all played navigator and all helped get through atleast one part. There was a pig maze, for the little kids, they let these baby pigs go through it with the kids, Heather was all for it when the girls got older, I might consider it, if I dont have to watch. :) I'm still not much of a "farm girl" But at long as we play with them and not eat them, i'm all for it ;)

This is the end of Lydia's smile, but I got her to smile :)

There are a ton more pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/hugsnsprinkles/AutumnFun
Uploading them takes too long and gets a little messy! :) Hope you like them :)
xxoxox
God Bless!!

I'm here!

2008-10-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

We have had QUITE the busy weekend! But I am here, and today is Sunday which means church until noon, and I have to cute handsome's hair! I promise. a real post by tonight :) Maybe when Olivia is napping!

Love you! xoxox

"Do I make myspace uncool?"

2008-10-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

LOL! this conversation went:

Ash: Myspace is soo slow and lame

Mike: I've told you this a million times

Ash: It's because everyone and their mom is on myspace, all the time. wait.. literally, even Mom's have a myspace!!

Mike: *snickers*

Ash: what!?

Mike: you're a mom, and you have a myspace...

Ash: Do I make myspace uncool?!?

LOL. I dont care what anyone says, I think I'm cool. I turn up my music on the way home from work. windows down, shades on. I'm too cool for words ;)

We have had a great couple of days. Olivia and I have done some sort of excersise. Sunday, we went running to Safeway [4 blocks] On the walk back, we found some great crunchy leaves.

She was more about eating them, than playing in them. I dont know what leaves taste like, but I'm sure Olivia does..

And the boxes of pumpkins outside the grocery store were just fantastic! I remember going to Freddy's when we were little, and my daddy telling me to crawl in the boxes towards the back, and I would climb through the pumpkins, until I found the coolest ones. [you know, the funny shaped giant ones that weighed too much] That was always a GREAT time. I took a picture of all this great orange! :) I love Fall. I love pumpkins! So beautiful!! We came home, and Daddy mowed the lawn, and the weather turned sunny and warm. I love these kind of fall days! Olivia and I sat on the grass, ate triscuits and watched Daddy mow the lawn. She ate this one triscuit for an hour. She just nibbled on it. If I would of known that eating a cracker would keep her still for a second, I would of done it a long time ago.. :) Look at this handsome man.. gorgeous.And Miss Olivia, was infatuated with the lawn mower, she would kick her legs, and get all excited when Daddy was coming towards her. And of course, it was Sunday, so we went back inside to watch Football! :) I love sunday football and watching the Seahawks. Who by the way, are totally SUCKING IT UP!! this year. Stupid Hasselbeck, throwing it ALL over the place!! And now he's out and this replacement qb isn't any better!! Sheesh.

Yes, that is my throwback seahawks sweatshirt ;)

And Olivia, found heaven in my pink yarn. She had it EVERYWHERE!

Yesterday, was the PERFECT fall day! :) It was about 60, and a little bit of a breeze. I took Olivia outside because I wanted to take better pictures of her. And she is pretty still when she is outside taking everything in. So we had a fall photoshoot ;)

Eating leaves with Daddy

And can you believe that with all this fun, i've actually had time to sit down and scrapbook? Okay, well just one page, but I love when I find a picture and it's perfect, I immediatly want to sit down and scrap it!

Here is a random sassy face.

And what is this amazing photo?! The world's BEST cupcake. I kid you not, it is delectable! The "icing" is not icinig. It is a chocolate mousse! :) Yumm.. Mike shared this with me last night.

Alright, longest blog post ever! This is a catch up of the last 2 days! :) This weekend should be great. Taking blewett pass to Wenatchee to see the colors. Costco. Getting see The Juenemanns and sweet little Lydia, Pumpkin picking and dinner with the Brady's, and hopefully getting to meet my sister in law and beautiful neice! :)

Looks like a busy weekend! Good thing all the cleaning in done around here!

God Bless!!

Oldy but goody :)

2008-10-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

Purging my old email folders I came across pictures of Michael when he was a baby. I had Mom send them to me when I still pregnant with Olivia. I wanted to be able to dream about her and I wanted to think about how she would look when I was holding her for the first time. I came across this wonderful photo of Michael playing in the dirt and I cant help but notice how alike they are. How much they are each others twin, and I couldn't be happier.

forth on a friday

2008-10-10T05:51:00.001-07:00

Today is forth on a friday. This is the forth picture in the forth file in my file. eeek. I dont even know what it could be. Of course, It's Olivia. This was taken 6/6/2008. She was ALMOST 4 months old. And looking as cute as ever. I LOVE THIS FACE. Look at those tights! And she cant even really sit up herself. I think she should wear those tights today, that outfit actually, minus that jean jumper because that was 0-3 months. My beautiful girl.

Olivia and I went shopping yesterday at Target and Craft Warehouse [mom, you are going to love it!!] She had fun in target, got a little fussy. But not until we were at the checkstand. On the way to the craft warehouse, she fell asleep and had the cutest look on her face. Nothing is sweeter than sleeping babies.

Gretchen and I had so much fun. We enjoyed being girly together without the rush of the boys.. :) Mike informed me, he LIKES going down all the aisles... as long as he is with me. How cute is he? I bought some great papr and accents! All 75% off :) I'm good at what I do.

I work saturday and I'm pretty much off the rest of the week, which is good because I have 2 craft projects in the works. A web bowl, and ghosts!! :)

xoxo

God Bless!!

new shoesss

2008-10-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

Olivia's new shoes came in the mail yesterday! They are so sweet and she likes having them on. They are size 2 which I guess goes from 6-12 months. She has some toe room which I hope means that they will fit her from now til the end of winter. Her little pigs will enjoy the warmth and I will giggle at how cute she is.

sicky.. :(

2008-10-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

With what? I dont know. But I spent my morning drinking coffee, trying to get rid of the body aches and blowing my nose! I dont know why it is, but the sinus medicine i'm taking just isn't cutting it. Maybe my nose will just RUN off.. :)

Olivia actually sitting still for a quick second.

We had a great weekend with my parent's coming over on friday and staying until sunday morning. :) It was awful weather. My parent's brought the rain with them! They also brought presents! I love presents :)

Olivia and Grandpa

They gave Mike his birthday present! A Kelty Backpack for Olivia! It's snazzy red and it pretty high tech! :) I would highly recommend it. It is so light! :) Mom has all the pics of Mike wearing it, but I'm super excited to get it out on the trails. :) We planned a trip for next week :) Swauk Creek, here we come :)

Lately, Olivia hates putting clothes on... Must be the confinement. lol. She did get a new outfit this weekend and looks pretty darn cute in pink and brown.

I told Mike that they were going to call CPS on us for putting Olivia in the dryer. But look at that happy face. Maybe she is the one stealing all the sockies??

And because it wouldn't be a post without a picture of Mike and I.. here we are being silly. A glass of wine later :)

Now I must get going because olivia is crawling around the room with a bib in her mouth grunting.. maybe it's breakfast time?? LOL

xoxoxo

Contentment.

2008-10-03T07:35:00.000-07:00

"A cheerful look brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones"

Proverbs 15:30

29 days til Halloweeeeen!!

2008-10-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

That's right. There are only 29 days and I'm so excited for the spooky time of year. I LOVE halloween! I cant get enoug of it. This year, I'm going to be a witch. A Martha Stewart Witch to be exact. And I think we may even get trick or treaters. :) We live on a main road. I'm not REALLY countin on it {OK, I totally am} For the start of the month, I decorated my front porch in spider webs!!

My sister and I use to do this for Mom when we were kids and live on Sarazen. It was awesome! We had a much bigger front porch and it took us all afternoon. My front porch took me half an hour tops but I'm sure it will get some scares out of people {If not, just Mike, who HATES spiders}

It doesn't look that scary in the picture. I promise it is! :)

And in Olivia news, not a lot is new. She is constantly shocking us with her want to do new and exciting things. She keeps me busy, that is for sure. I love every second with her. We caught this sweet moment during one of her naps.

That's all for now, I have to get ready for work :)

xoxox

God Bless

Birthday Fun!

2008-09-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a very fun filled weekend! Mike celebrated his 29th birthday! {My handsome old man} I baked a cake, got some dinosaur decorations and we were ready to party. LOL. Mike said that it was like having a party for a 5 year old...

Susan and Adrian came over to help us celebrate! :) Olivia went to bed at 6, so she missed the festivities! :( I cooked Mike's favorite dinner, Alfredo Pasta. It turned out yummy and the boys CLEANED their plates. I bet they would of licked the bowls if us girls weren't around.

We enjoyed yummy pineapple coconut cocktails. MmMm. And played an exciting game of Cranium! :) Oh dont worry, we REALLY know how to have a good time. LOL

Mike said it was the BEST birthday ever! I think I did a good job :)

You can see more pictures here.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hugsnsprinkles/MikeSBirthday

Sorry for such a short post. I still have to shower and get ready for church :)

xoxoxo

God Bless

PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MILO!!!!

Seriously blogger?!

2008-09-28T04:41:00.000-07:00

I had THIS great post to remind my hubby of why I love him. {Like he doesn't know!} Of course, it didn't post. Blogger is here to spite me.

Happy Birthday my sweet, gorgeous Husband! ;)

29 Reasons Why I Love Michael.

1. He gives the best hugs!

2. He will stay up late, even when he has to work, so that I can talk to him about my day.

3. He treats me like a princess.

4. He's so good to Olivia, and she loves her Daddy.

5. He tickles me, even though I say I hate it.

6. He puts up with my constant picture taking, and making him "re-do" cute moments.

7. He'll walk down every aisle of the grocery store, even if we just need milk.

8. He is so smart and gets fired up about his beliefs.

9. He will call duing the day and sing to my voicemail to make me laugh.

10. He will do anything for a friend, no matter what it is.

11. The way he gets excited about little things, like planning, or money saving.

12. He is constantly encouraging me to do better

13. He actually LIKES to do dishes ;)

14. The way he gets Olivia squeeling, and laughing

15. He puts up with my clutter.

16. The way he just rolls his eyes when I say "I neeeeed this!"

17. He bought me pink gerber daisy's when I got off work.

18. I can tell what he is thinking, by just looking at him.

19. How sometimes when we are together in a crowded room, he is the only one there.

20. He knows me.
21. The way he dances around the room, and shakes his butt ;)

22. He tries to raise his eyebrow and makes a hilarious face

23. He reminds me to take my vitamins.

24. On his days off, he will make a pot of coffee before I get up.

25. The way he "fight" and he says "Oh, now you are being dramatic"

26. He will do anything, if I look at him just right.

27. His is my sunshine

28. He gave me a beautiful daughter, and even said he wanted more babies!!
29. My other half, and my best friend!

I LOVE YOU BABY!!!!!!!!!!!

Thankful Thursday

2008-09-25T06:14:00.000-07:00

1. my amazing bakery family. they reminded me how amazing my life is and how wonderful my marriage is and to be thankful that Mike and I's bickering about irrelevant things is the ONLY thing we fight about ;)

2. My Olivia. Oh boy, does she love her Mommy lately? These past 2 mornings, she has eaten her bottle, played around on the ground with her toys then has crawled towards me on the couch and I pick her up and put her on my lap, where she sits and falls asleep close and snuggled up to me.. it makes my heart smile.

3. My Momma. Its funny how much we are alike. 2 days ago, she texted me, but I didn't know it. The next morning, I woke up and realized my phone wasn't near me and said "I miss my Mom" and her text said "I miss you!!" Two peas in a pod ;)

4. My friends. Gretchen and Em gave me a great hug yesterday when I really needed it. Then Gretchen told me a great story and I laughed so hard! And my sweet Susan who has been helping me with Mike's birthday! Thank goodness!

5. For my coffee pot, Mr. Black! WHERE WOULD I BE WITHOUT CAFFEINE!?!? LOL

6. Chestnut Street Baptist Church! The minute I walked in, the butterflies were gone. They have a nursery for Olivia to stay in and and a great Pastor. Pastor Frank is hilarious. And the worship...PERFECT

That's my thankful thursday! ;) Sorry no pictures. The camera is dead and charging as we speak!

God Bless!
xxoxox
Ash

PS. Thanks Heather for the parenting magazine!! It is great! ;)

scrap closet!!

2008-09-19T18:59:00.001-07:00

I finally bought some great shelving {at a garage sale, like you would expect anything else???} and I got Mike to hang them up for me.

I purge some of my supplies to donate to the elementary school down the street and now I'm free to be creative! :) Here are some quick pics and then it's off to bed for this Momma.

I love it. It's perfect for me!

Have a good weekend everyone!!

God Bless! xoxox

Tag: you're it!

2008-09-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

1. Where is your cell phone? Next to me. I'm texting my mom
2. Your significant other? at work. he's my baker ;)
3. Your hair? whoa.
4. Your mother? caring and kind
5. Your father? heart of Gold
6. Your favorite thing? morning coffee. olivia smiles
7. Your dream last night? CREEEEEEPY.
8. Your favorite drink? coffee, water, and diet coke
9. Your dream/goal? graphic designer
10. The room you’re in? our love nest
11. Your hobby? creativity
12. Your fear? losing my daddy
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? sucessful.
14. What you’re not? fake
15. Muffins? my husband is the muffin.. ;)
16. One of your wish list items? white oxford shirt, that pink sweater at maurices
17. Where you grew up? lacey, wa
18. The last thing you did? picked up my sweet girl and gave her a kiss
19. What are you wearing? PJ pants, life is good shirt, sockies
20. Favorite gadget? camera
21. Your pets? rocky the rock. sprinkles the dog :)
22. Your computer? is borrowed from susan. thanks
23. Your mood? happy.
24. Missing someone? daddy's hugs. mom's coffee chats. melissa's laugh
25. Your car? P.O.S
26. Something you’re not wearing? earrings
27. Favorite store? JoAnne's. Maurices. Target. Dollar Tree
28. Like someone? LOVE someone
29. Your favorite color? teal. pink. white.
30. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday night
31. Last time you cried? yesterday, watching the news.

I encourage you

2008-09-16T05:38:00.001-07:00

To yearbook yourself :) http://yearbookyourself.com/

the results are dashing! :) PS. Mike and I look like we are going to a sock-hop! and Mike looks like Ronald Reagan..

01. I think the feathered look works for me.

02. Mike looks like my uncle jack

03. I dont like the fro. :(

A day in the life

2008-09-15T18:16:00.001-07:00

Today was a fun day. I don't really have a true reason as to why, I just loved it. Mike and I didn't stress over what was to be done or who was going to do what. It just worked out. We even fit in an hour nap cuddling with each other on the couch. Can you get any better than that?

This morning was precious. I think Olivia is inheriting my good taste in music. Today, we were blastin' Free Fallin' by John Mayer and she just happened to be IN LOVE with him. It's only right. After all, she is part of me :)

I think she may have an ear infection. We are headed to the doctor tomorrow to find out. I blame our nurse Kim. She wanted to see me and said "Well, I'm sure Olivia will get sick and have to come in.." So she is in BIG trouble. She was pretty crazy but lovey! So we BOTH got great pictures with her :) And in great "Ashlee's trying to grow out her hair" news: My hair is officially long enough for a pony AND a messy bun. My life is good. :)

That's all for now. Olivia is in bed and so is Mike. I'm gonna go cuddle with him. :) :)

xoxoxoxxo

God Bless!

I should be:

2008-09-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

01. Picking up the living room

02. Cleaning up the rest of the kitchen

03. Scrapbooking Olivia's pages

04. Unloading the dishwasher

05. Putting up pictures

But nah. I would rather drink coffee and blog.

Aren't you jealous you dont have 4 clothes line of pink??

It's been really crazy around here. So crazy that I feel like I dont catch up on anything. Mike and I have been exausted trying to keep up with our little crawling bug. She has been pulling herself up on the coffee table, the couch, on us. Anyone want to babysit so Mike and I can relax for 10 minutes? :)

But in all honesty. I'm so excited for her excelling in everything that she is doing. She is becoming a big girl. I cant help but want to pull her in close for a good hug. She still is curious and brave and I love it. A few days ago, she even LET GO of the coffee table to try and stand. She fell down, but she didn't cry. She only looked up at us and the look on her face said, "It's okay Mom, dont worry I'll try again"

She loves to play outside. And take walks with us. She loves going to the grocery store too. Sometimes, if she is being too much of a nut, we will browse Fred Meyers until she gets sleepy. She is so alert in the stores. I think it's awesome.

the only real reason for this picture is because, she is doing the "rock on" symbol and she has that "look" too. My sweet girl is a rocker! :) Gretchen would be so proud. lol

Mike and I went to the Wind Farm on thursday. We had a great time. Olivia was getting sleepy and antsy so it was a little rushed. But it was still a cool site to see. You dont realize how HUGE the wind turbines are, until you go up to them. They make the coolest noise too! They had a blade that was outside the station that you could look at how it was made and how LARGE it really was. We sat Olivia on it, and for some reason she got the giggles and was smiling like crazy!

See the black speck down there? That's Mike. And this is the giant BLADE!

Olivia sitting on the giant blade

Daddy teaching her about wind energyWhich is good, because she LOVES the wind.

Olivia also, has been enjoying her "bike" that our friend Felisha gave her. She can almost get it to go with her feet but her legs aren't long enough. Maybe Lydia and her can be the next "Insert cool motocross name here" ;) {Good idea, Huh Heather?? :)}

I tried to take some cute photo's of her like her 1 month old picture, but things change when your daughter can actually MOVE. LOL. She was all over the place. I made her this flower bow for her headband. {easy! a bunch of flowers, a cute polka dot brad, a headband} And tried to get some good black and white shots. Good? yea right! but they all turned out pretty good. These were my top 3 :)

I found a Johnny Jumper at a garage sale yesterday! Yes! 3 bucks! I knew that if I waited long enough that I would get one :) She seems like it, but our house is lacking door jams. She can have it in her room or ours. :)

That's all for now. Olivia is getting fussy and i'm out of coffee :) Have a great weekend!

God Bless!

xoxoxo

PS.

2008-09-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

Look at these pearly whites!

Mariners Weekend

2008-09-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

It seems lately, I've only been able to squeeze in weekly posts. I'm sorry. I've been kinda busy and Olivia leaves me little time to myself. She is becoming a little person. She is crawling all over the room, trying to get into everything she can :) Right now, she is trying to climb UP the bed. I kid you not. Walking soon? Lord, please help me.

I had a wonderful weekend with my family in Port Orchard! It was a blast. We road tripped with our bag full of goodies. And the essentials :

Crazy dip tongues!!

Yes, a sleepy Olivia is essential!!

Olivia spent the night with Grandma Rinn, while we went and played with Aunty and Uncle. We bought tickets to the mariners game like a YEAR ago and finally we got to go! We took the ferry, which I love, to west Seattle to meet Uncle Shawn. The ferry was awesome. It was cold, but we didn't mind because the view was GORGEOUS. My daddy is so lucky to get to ride the ferry everyday!

Me and Aunty

We got to eat dinner and then two $5 dollar coffees and a 8 dollar beer and we were READY! We were in section 347. You know where that is? All the way up top! But it was still AWESOME! There really isn't a bad seat at Safeco. We walked around and got cool foam fingers! YES! Aunty and I ran down a million steps just to get them! There was this fun thing at the Mariners Hall of Fame that you climb the wall and take a picture, we all did it! But of course, there was no lefty mitt, so I'm backwards.. :( But I was just excited that everyone did it! :) Oh my way with words :)

The mariners won! I got a little bored towards the end, but there isn't ALoT of action in baseball! :) Hopefully this will be tradition and every year we get to go with them :) That would be awesome! I think next year though, we are going to the Seahawks! YESS!!! And I will finally be old enough to enjoy an 8 dollar beer :) And you thought I was loud before..

These are my baseball feet. And what happens when I get bored :)

yes I bought my pants like that.

I've been scrapbooking like crazy. I am already to the page of taking Olivia home!! Thanks to all the grandma's that sent pictures my way! :) It helped out ALOT. That's all for now, I have to go and take care of Olivia who is REFUSING to take a nap.

God Bless!

xxoxoxo!!!

SSL [sorry so late]

2008-09-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

Face only a mother could love..

Things have been crazy around here. Of course, it was rodeo weekend here in Ellensburg. Mike had to work 10pm to 7am!! No joke. It wasn't very fun for any of us. On top of that i work everyday this weekend, except sunday. Throw in a 6 month old teether and you have a wammy of a weekend. :( :(

We have been greatly enjoying the cooler weather outside. It's been only about 80 degrees here and we are thankful for it. It helped Mike get to sleep during the day. Olivia and Dad got to hang outside and Olivia got to eat grass.

Olivia has 2 teeth!! Finally! They are on the bottom. She has been having a terrible time sleeping at night, poor girl. We give her childrens tylenol and the homeopathic teething tablets to help her through. They seem to work wonders. However, one day during her nap, we found her loving her giraffe. She has been sleeping with that giraffe since the day she got out of the hospital.

We got the joy of attending the fair! It was a lot of fun. We went on thursday and walked around. It wasn't even hot! Thank you Lord! Last year it was almost 100 degrees and I almost passed out. Mike got a chance to show me all the food that he tested as judge this year. Which made me feel very bad for him.. :( bleeeh! A girl that I work with, Bailey, let me pet her cow Karen!!!! It was so cool! :) No one got a picture of that of course! She was a very pretty cow, I guess Bailey shows her? I never knew..

All the animals were great! Olivia got to pet a goat!!! It was a little nerving. I didn't want the goat to bite her and then that would ruin her goat experience for life! But he was very gentle and you could tell he just wanted some attention! The goat before hand, SMILED AT ME!!!! I kid you not! He was very excited that I scratched his head!!! It was the cutest thing in the world.

Mike and I are officially buying a goat.

[when we have land and $$]

Olivia with the horses, this is one of my favorite pictures.

How cuuuute!

These piggies were holding hooves. Reminded me of Mike and I

Nicest goat ever!

I didn't take a picture but I found an Ellensburg Rodeo onesie at Goodwill a week before, she wore it, all she was missing was some pink cowboy boots :) :)

Hopefully this week will wind down, We are going to Port Orchard this weekend! MARINERS GAME ON FRIDAAaY!! Look for us, its an ESPN game ;) So stoked. Grandma is babysitting Olivia and Mike and I are hanging out with my Aunty and Uncle!!!!

This is Olivia playing with her blocks. She is a genius :) lol

That's it. I'm sure I have more but I need more coffee :)

God Bless!!

xoxox

introducing..

2008-08-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

The new and improved swiffer

She does a better job

Buy her now for the low 18 year installments of just $19.99

And my Daddy would be so proud of me being green.{haha} I'm making coffee sleeves :) It's better then the cardboard ones and they are prettier :)

Dont worry, everyone I know is getting one for x-mas :)

That's it for now.

God Bless

xoxox

PS. http://picasaweb.google.com/hugsnsprinkles/GrowingGirl <~~New pictures of Olivia. :)

scrappin' fun && hiking fun!

2008-08-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

I finally did it!

I finally started Ms. Olivia's scrapbook! This is the first page. I'm up for any grandma's wanting to send me picutres... I think i'm missing like the whole first hour of her life. Way to go Ash. But here it is! I thought I would share. There is a pull out behind the white square that had a letter I wrote to Olivia in november. I thought it was special and she should have it.

I love buttons.
precious baby girl ribbon.

Also, Mike and I decided to be pro-active and went hiking up to the falls. It's not a very rugged hike, but I felt like I was going to die.. I front packed Olivia in and he packed her out. Thank goodness! And it was the first time we got to use our camel packs {{Thanks Heather!!}}

The over growth!! Mike and I think they aren't taking care of the trails like they use too.. :(

He only thinks he is sexy...

I love this picture.

This must be the excited face..

Backpack in action! or.. a lame excuse for hubby to take a picture of my butt..

Over the river and through the woods

2008-08-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

To huckleberry pickin' we go!

Susan, Adrian and I got a bug yesterday afternoon to pick some huckleberrys. They were pretty few and far between. Early? Maybe. Bears ate them all? Probably. But, either way, we had a great time! Olivia even helped Aunt Susan. She mostly picked leaves and tried to stuff them in her mouth before Aunty could catch her, but she laughed and smiled the whole time. Except for this face...

I believe it's the face of shame. That her Momma lied to her when she said that Huckleberry pickin' was SO MUCH fun... ;)

It was beautiful up at Cle Elem River camp. It was overcast, but I cant believe the growth of the vegitation! Spots where we usually went, didn't look familiar anymore. Oh well, I guess that what happens when you and the forest get older :(

I took some great shots of Olivia the other day. Trying to capture her small delicate features. Praying that I dont blink and the next thing I know, she is off to college.

I think they turned out great. One day I will get my super snazzy camera and take pictures of everything. But for right now, the fuji works great. If Mike would find the book on it, I think I could take ever BETTER pictures.

Olivia is sitting up without the wobbles for longer periods of time. I think it's great. She is so much happier sitting on her bottom then laying down. :) Just a better view. :) Since she is sitting up, Daddy can FINALLY put her on his shoulders. He has wanted to do that since she was born. :) That is even a better view! :)

She truely is a special girl. So much, she loves the fan blowing on her and thinks it is the funniest thing! :) She laughs and giggles. It is adorable.

God Bless!!

xoxoxoxo

a weeks recap.

2008-08-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

My Mom came over for a couple of days! It was a lot of fun! :) We got to go shopping and stamp and just hang out! I miss her a lot when she leaves :(

Olivia starting to crawl!! :) It is the coolest thing to watch. She get's a little frustrated and pouts a little but mostly she thinks she is cute :) Pretty soon, I will have a mobile girl! Watch out world :) I guess that means I have to keep the living room clean.. eek.

While Mom was here, Mike and I got to go on a date! We have been trying to go to Lions Rock to see the sunset all summer, but it just so happens that the sunset usually sets when Olivia is sleeping so that made it tough! Well I planned the whole night! :) We let Mom take care of Olivia and bought her chinese as a brib and off we went! [With chow mein and sweet and sour chicken in stow] On our way up there I was talking to Mike saying how I wish the Elk were up here and we didn't think we would see any but as we were watching a timber tiger cross the road HOLY MOLEY! Here come 5 different bucks [i dont know the difference between all of them..] and this cute guy just stared at us! He was SO cool! I love being outdoors for this reason! Just beautiful!

It was just awesome! We made up all the way up to the top just in time! We got to sit and eat our chinese on a blanket :) It was good to just be able to sit down and not have a care in a world. Mike and i got to talk for the first time it seemed like all week. We got to sit and kiss and laugh

and just be together! What is better than that!? Last time we were up there, It was before I pregnant and before we were even "together" just dating I guess. So this was special and to look back on how much has changed in the last year. I'm more in love than I have ever been. He is my everything. My rock. :)

The sunset was just beautiful. Orange and pink splashed the sky and it was just perfect. It reminds me how I love Ellensburg. You can get that pretty anywhere else. Our little town. :)

We got a couple good pictures. Ha! But taking a picture together and actually liking it was whole other story!

Take .01

Take .02Take .03

Perfect

We got to see even more deer && elk on the way back! They were so close! There were a couple that were further away and there were two 6 points! [yea, i do know THAT!] And a couple doe's too! :) It was just all around a beautiful date.

Here's the big girl sitting up! :)

Just some random stuff

2008-08-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

Such a big, pretty girl! Olivia is growing like a weed. :( I cant help but wish that I could grasp the time and make it stop. She is such a wonderful baby. She loves me! I cant help but feel one hundred percent blessed to have her in my life. This morning she sat on my lap while I surfed the internet. She had her lovey in one hand and her thumb in her mouth and she just sat. :)

She is eating Carrots now!! I dont know how to upload video or I would. [heather??] She seems to LOVE them. It's so cute when she gets all excited and moved her arms and kicks her legs. It is a success! Of course, she IS our daughter so it's only right that she LOVES food... :) :)

That's all for now... My mommy is coming over monday!!!!!!!!!! :) hooray! I love her. And Mike and I will have a date on tuesday! OooOoO! :)

God Bless!
xoxoxox

I love when he's home ..

2008-07-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

Mike has a super crazy schedule this week and next and wait.. probably for the next month!! :( So he had a random monday off!!! Which was great! I love spending time with him! Monday morning I had to work at 1 but we went to breakfast to say farewell to our friend Derrick [the old bakery manager] it was alot of fun. It just the family, which is always the BEST. They are all wonderful! I dressed up Olivia for Derrick. LOL Mike also discovered she can stand up on her own next to the couch! We clapped and cheered for her at which she got really excited and fell down on the bum. lol, but she still had a big smile on her face!

Thanks for the dress Grandma Nancy!! :) After I got the dress out of her "big girl" box i realized I should of opened it a couple months ago. She had jammies that are already almost too small [for the record, i never actually believe she would be as long as the 6 month pj's] She has all kinds of new clothes in her drawers! :) And 4 sets of dinosaur pajamas! Thanks daddy! AND! She fits in her 9m onesie set.. holy moley..

This week we also started wheat cereal! She likes it just as much! Next week, I think we are going to take the plunge and do actually food. Carrots sound yummy :)

My project next week is to start making some of her food! I'm really looking forward to it! I think she will benefit from it and we will too. It will be alot of fun. I just have to get her use to her highchair.

Mike went out and about for a little bit, while Olivia was napping. He came home fairly happy which means he did something! He meets me in the kitchen and shows me his fuel injector stuff? and our printer paper and goes "I bought a tent" and after the fiasco at Bi-Mart I didnt think we would ever get our tent. Well he got the 6 person one instead! We got this baby for 72 bucks! We had nothing better to do yesterday then put it up! It was so easy to do and probably only took a good 10 minutes! :) It had ALOT of room inside, it should its 14ft long....

For the record, a small human can fit through that "doggie" door.. OH and the silly thing is, there is an extension cord slot on the side of the tent incase Mike really needs a cold beer, he can have his mini fridge set up inside.... lol

Over all, it will work perfect for all of us. And when we have another little bug, her/him and Olivia can have one side and we can have the other. :) So these next couple weeks, Mike and I are trying to go camping for a night! :) And I will admit one of the reason I wanted to put it up so bad was so I could see his cute bum...

{I can hear my mom now, "Ashlee, I dont want to know this"} HAHAHAH! LOVE YOU MOM!

God Bless!!
xxoxoxo

Some random stuff

2008-07-26T14:22:00.001-07:00

Mike and I went to Yakima yesterday. We are in the market for a new desk for the computer so I can have my scrapbooking table back. We went all over and still didnt find one. Oh well, I will keep checking craigs list and garage sales. We did see this SUPER cute hat at Target for Olivia that I wanted to get her, I think I will wait til it goes on clearance. It's spf 55 and it looked SO cute on her. They had aqua socks that matched and a little swimmer shirt too!! Mike and I had a fun time! Spent too much money but really enjoyed being together. He even walked down all the aisles with me! He is too good! :)

I got some great frames for the living room and Olivia hat/mitten set for winter that is brand new and from Old Navy. It's cute and red and she looks cute in it and I think it's big enough to last her all winter! :) So garage sales weren't half bad :)

Now it's off to cut Hubby's hair :) I'm a pro! LOL

God Bless!

xoxoxo

Fun Fun FUN!!

2008-07-25T19:20:00.001-07:00

I'm super proud of this layout I did!!! It's actually going to go into a frame for my wall in the living room. I love it. That is a picture of Olivia when she was only a few hours old. It is precious to me because she is sleeping on my chest, and even though she is as big as I am now, she still loves to sleep like that.

All about Olivia!

2008-07-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

Olivia is becoming such a big girl. She knows what she likes [anything to do with mom holding her] and what she doesn't like [being put down] Her hand eye cordination is getting better and better. Right now, she is shaking her rattle to her thigh during Jack Johnson. [future tamberine player?] We have been doing rice cereal for 2 weeks now. She loves it! She gets all excited and lurches toward the spoon. She makes a mess, but it's too cute to worry about. She only gets it once a day for right now. We chose to give to her at night, when she is most happy.

She gets better at sitting up for longer periods of time. When she is laying down, she will stretch her neck up like a flamingo to try and sit up. It's pretty funny! She is more and more active now. She LOVES her hop and pop and being able to stand up and jump. Mike and I are looking for a johnny jumper to get her because I think she will like moving around a lot more. The 6th month marker is getting closer and closer and it makes me nervous. I'm going to have to start planning for 1st birthday here soon. :) :)

Blogger picture upload is being a pain, So here is the link to all the new pictures! This is my favorite one this week I think..

Olivia in her bathrobe, getting ready for a bath! She LOVES baths!

http://picasaweb.google.com/hugsnsprinkles/GrowingGirl

5 things..

2008-07-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

1. Olivia's babble. I really truely believe that she says "Hi" and tells me how she is doing when I ask

2. Music! I have to have it, if I'm ever going to clean anything, I feel like I should crank up the tunes and then work, otherwise I get bored.

3. Worship. I forget how much I love it. I love singing and praising our Lord! I may not be the best singer in the world, but if I'm singing worship, you can garantee I will belt it out!4. Matching decor. I think it's nessasary. Everything has to have a place. This never happened when I was little. Now that it's my own home, everything has to go in it's place and everything has to match.
5. My Gap! I remember begging and begging to have it fixed. But looking back, there is no way we could have afforded it. Today, I proudly smile. I love it! It's beautiful and unique and I pray that Olivia will have one and not give a damn either!

catching up!

2008-07-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

Mike and I got to go to Wilbur this week! It was great. Not too hot over there and Uncle Jeff was nice enough to take us boating! :) And Olivia finally got to meet her grandpa Jack and Uncle Jeff! :) The boat was great! Olivia had to wear this horrible life vest. It was poofy and uncomfortable. You would think for a mothers sanity they would make them comfy, but I guess not. It made her look like she had even bigger cheeks!! LOL Poor Girl. She did otherwise, great on the boat. Getting to the middle of the lake we were going really fast and she LOVED the wind and then when Uncle Jeff started trolling for fish, she got grumpy with him! Hopefully that doesn't mean she is going to be a speed demon... eeek.

None of us {besides olivia} had on sunblock :( yikes! I had put some on a my shoulders that morning while I was putting it on Olivia so you can DEF. tell where it is.. so we brought back with us a killer sunburn! :) Of course, Mike's had already turned brown. brat. :(

Been trying to get the house somewhat livable. I feel like i've been getting nothing done! My house is a mess. I really need to clean the nitty gritty I just cant get any motivation. I have like 6 boxes left scattered about the rooms. BLAAAAH! I dont wanna!!!

Made these 2 layouts at scrapblog! I LOVE this site!!! It really gets me in the mood to scrap. I just ordered like 175 pictures from snapfish which I hope to get today!! Then I'm sitting my butt down and getting in gear. I haven't even touched Mike and I's and Olivia's is just sitting there in the plastic... :( We will just add it to the list of "Things to do!"

2008-07-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

I am in love with this website! www.scrapblog.com How cool! You can do digi pages without Photoshop! [Heather, you could even do this!] Anyways, made this one of Olivia :) I LOVE LOVE it!!

..and we danced

2008-07-13T06:46:00.001-07:00

Mike and I spent yesterday at our friends' Roger and Jill's wedding. It was alot of fun. I felt a little out of place being that I am not catholic, so I dont know the routine of usual mass. But I did enjoy the praises of the Lord and getting to sing worship. I love singing worship! It is always my favorite part. The wedding was beautiful and back at the reception, Mike and I got the chance to dance!! We have never danced together, and it was great. I did KINDA feel like I was back in highschool... lol I love the feeling that Mike and I were the only ones in the room and the only thing that mattered what us :)

We didn't take very many pictures of the Bride and Groom, I think we took more pictures of ourselves. That is okay right? LOL! We looked very snazzy all dressed up! Probably be the last time I ever get Mike in a tux :( He looks so handsome, he should wear them everyday!

James Bond's got nothing on you baby!

Olivia stayed at Aunt Cherl's. She was great the whole day and I dont think Cherl put her down! Oh well, she has to get spoiled every once in a while!

Thanks dad for the sour patch covered finger.

Where the heart is

2008-07-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

**Photographed by Lil' Rob. EEEK

My Parent's house. I love it there. The chaos, the fast paced atmosphere. I forget how much I have grown when I am there. And how the only thing that matters are morning talks with Mom, great big hugs from Daddy and the late night gab-fest with my sister. I miss it already.

My sister got to come over! I miss her. I miss how our laughs are in sinc and exactly the same. I cant get over how beautiful she is and how amazing of a mother she is to Lil' Rob. She was so cute when she was playing with Olivia. She had the biggest grin on her face when Olivia gave her a smile. It was so great! Olivia just loved her. She must remind Mel of me, she didnt even fuss a single bit! Hopefully my sister will be able to even out her thyroid so she can have more babies!! I need more then one nephew! :) :) :)

It was good to have us all together. On monday night, the whole family had dinner together. Sittin around the table, like we use too. It was a little surreal! I am sure Mom and Daddy were just lovin' it. We all laughed so much. Dad had his usual political stance on everything and told me I needed to be deprogrammed for being "too green" LoL! My brother commented that I didn't eat enough MEAT! [bleeeh!] and my sister and I just laughed. Like always. I love my family. Through the rough times and through the laughs and smiles. They really are all wonderful. I cant get enough of them. We still all fight and bicker [the REAL smith way.. ] but who doesn't. And it makes it alot more fun!

My brother, bless his heart. He is so great now. He loves Olivia. He loves Rob. He is the uncle that will overload Olivia on sweets and play video games with her. But I dont think I would have any other way. He is so much more fun now. He isn't grumpy like he use to be and he actually wanted to play Mario Kart with me! How cool!!! He still kicks my butt at video games but oh well! :) I still LOVED hanging out with him. He has an intensity about life that I hope he keeps. I just pray that he finds someone to love and to cherish and that one day he will get married and know true love.

By the end of the night, I think we were all in a pretty good mood. :) My sister and I ended up with underwear [clean and new] on our heads, that were my nephews! They were transformers and WAY too cool to keep in the packaging! We made Olivia get in on the action, and the whole time she gave us the "look'' that we were CrAzY! LOL!

I miss them. But I am glad to be back home with Mike. I missed him SO SO much. Before I had to go to work, we just layed on the couch. I layed on his lap and just stared at him. I'm sure he thought I was nuts. I just miss him and his kisses and that gorgeous smile. :)

Hooray!!

2008-07-03T21:00:00.001-07:00

Pink toes. Ready for summer.

We are all moved in. Not exactly unpacked but we are slowly getting there. I'm working on doing a room a day, getting things hung up and all decorated. Hopefully in the next two weeks, I will have everything situated and figured out... :) maybe.

Today it dawned on me how big Olivia is getting. She had on a pair of jean shorts [thanks grandma rinn] and a cute striped onesie and I couldn't help but realize how fast she is growing. She can hold her head up and can ALMOST crawl. She has the movements, she just had to get cordinated..

Here she is, looking as adorable as ever. I love that little smile and that dimple. I love her eyebrows and her expressions. She is simply, the best.

Along with unpacking, I have also been card making. [I know super MOM! haha] It has been alot of fun and I'm really enjoying the "Me" time whenever Olivia gives me a minute, or when she is taking a nap. Maybe I should be unpacking but I just cant help but dig into the yummy scrap goodies.

I am super excited for tomorrow. My frend Susan and I are going to have a girl's day in Yakima. I think we are going to hit JoAnne's. I'm going to buy some scrapbooking stuff and some fabric to make Mike curtains for our bedroom. :) I also need to grab some interfacing for something I'm making for Olivia and Lydia :)

This is going to be one of the best 4th ever! I'm super excited about all the fun things that Mike and I have planned. We are going to go to a BBQ at Cherls, watch the fireworks at Ellensburg park and then we get to see Heather, Milo and Lydia on saturday! I love to keep Mike busy, poor guy :)

That's all for now. It's bed time for this chicky :)

God Bless!!

xoxoxoxo

Move day!!

2008-06-27T04:24:00.001-07:00

We are moving today!!!!! Yaay! Actually I'm really not that excited, but today is suppose to be one of the coolest days and then this weekend it is supposed to be 100 here in the valley! AH! Hopefully we will have internet first thing in the morning Monday!

God Bless!!!
xxoxoxx

busy girl

2008-06-26T03:13:00.000-07:00

First things first.

WE GOT THE DUPLEX!!!!!

I am so excited! :) It is going to be great! It is so cute and I cant wait to decorate it and make it mine :) We are moving on friday :( I'm really not looking forward to the moving part but I think it will be okay. Just worried about Miss Olivia and her getting bored and tired.

Also, I have caught Heather's insomnia. :( Once Mike gets up, I am wide awake until like 5 and then I want to go back to bed but Olivia has been getting up at 6. I just dont sleep good without Mike. Today is his friday, which means I get to sleep with him ALL night. I look forward to his weekends. I have been VERY needy .. [hmm must be contagious. Olivia too.] I dont mean to be, I just want to be with Mike every second. I love him so much.

Olivia has also been very needy. Bless her sweet little heart. She doesn't want to go to sleep unless I am rocking her. I have been doing it too! I just realized she wont be this small forever and I want to enjoy being able to hold her in my arm and rock her. When she falls asleep, I carefully put her back in bed and pat her a little and she smiles at me and then falls asleep. Cant get any better than that. She is so wonderful. I just want to hug and squeeze her.

Well I have only killed half an hour. .. :( I'm going to go lay on the couch and try to sleep. Ha!

God Bless!

xoxox

A song that makes me smile

2008-06-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

"Everything"

Michael Buble

You're a falling star, you're the get away car.You're the line in the sand when I go too far.You're the swimming pool, on an August day.And you're the perfect thing to say.

And you play it coy but it's kinda cute.Ah, when you smile at me you know exactly what you do.Baby don't pretend that you don't know it's true.'cause you can see it when I look at you.

[Chorus:]

And in this crazy life, and through these crazy timesIt's you, it's you, you make me sing.You're every line, you're every word, you're everything.You're a carousel, you're a wishing well,And you light me up, when you ring my bell.

You're a mystery, you're from outer space,You're every minute of my everyday.And I can't believe, uh that I'm your man,And I get to kiss you baby just because I can.Whatever comes our way, ah we'll see it through,And you know that's what our love can do.

[Chorus]

So, la, la, la, la, la, la, laSo, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

[Chorus:]

And in this crazy life, and through these crazy timesIt's you, it's you, you make me sing.You're every line, you're every word, you're everything.You're every song, and I sing along.'Cause you're my everything.Yeah, yeah

So, la, la, la, la, la, la, laSo, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

2008-06-22T07:46:00.001-07:00

I've been working been working hard to keep up with the challenges over at scrapfriendzy. I've done 3 of the 10 :( Yikes. But I have the rest of the week to finish them and I am going to try and do a card a day....

Here are the 3 that I have done. I think they turned out great!

Just a birthday card to put in the stack incase I'm super swamped and dont get to make one! The challenge was to do one with a pocket and if you pull up the little tag there is a little birthday saying :)

This was my Daddy's fathers day card for the father's day challenge. I really like how it turned out.

This challenge, we were suppose to make an "I love you card" with a scalloped edge. My scalloped edge didnt turn out because my scissors wanted to not be my friend. :( But oh well. I really love this one. It may be my favorite.

3 down. 10 to go!! AHHH!

2008-06-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

this is the face I get when I try to get her to laugh. She was so close..

the next day!! We were at the lake and playing with Huburt the duck rattle and out comes the sweetest little laugh!!!! It was soo cute! And I was almost laughing/crying :)

It made my whole day! Momma got her babygirl to laugh! :) I cant wait for more giggles to come!

Rocks between my toes

2008-06-18T07:26:00.001-07:00

Mike and I brought Olivia to the lake! We took a walk to the bridge and there is a little spot where you can wade and thought that would be a great introduction to the lake for Olivia.

Dad decided to give Olivia a good ol' pep talk about how cold the water was going to be and that she shouldn't cry or she might scare the fish.. :) We put her on the cold wet rocks first and she didn't even wince. I think she liked it. Or maybe... she was just too shocked. We got her out to that little rock. Where she tried to sit down, naturally :).

She just looks so curious and awe struck. I just love her curious heart. I think I say that everyday. She didn't cry the whole time we were in the water. I think she is going to be a fish! :) My sister was a fish when she was little. She would be out in the water even if Mom called us in for dinner at the lake.

When her lip started to quiver, we decided it was time to go. She did get her little onesie a little wet, but she seemed to enjoy it. I cant wait til it gets a little warmer and she can actually get in with Dad. Mom will sit on the shore and take pictures :)

7 RaNdOm things about meee

2008-06-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

7. I would rather be running than walking
6. I clean when I'm grumpy
5. I have to drink coffee in the morning. Mike knows better than to talk to me before my coffee.
4. I love avacados. I just never know what to do with them so half always goes brown and bad :(
3. I doodle on everything. lists. ideas. numbers. whatever.
2. I wont pay full price for anything.
1. I love to take pictures of Olivia and Mike sleeping. Mike looks so peaceful and Olivia sleeps like she is resting in heaven.

Summer Sun

2008-06-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

I love the weather!! It has been gorgeous here in Ellensburg. We have had atleast 80's with NO wind! Yup I said it.. NO WIND. We had a great fathers day on Sunday, although I didn't get everything done that I wanted. Being on vacation and then starting work right after has been a hassle. Luckily I got a card done for someone's birthday, just not fathers day gifts :(

I did get Mike a starbucks cup that you decorate yourself. Has it been decorated.. NOPE. But he got it anyways and I told him it would be done by the end of the week. I did remember the card! YAY! Olivia's grandpa's card is in the mail and will be late but he will like it anyways.

Olivia and I went and ran some "errands" on sunday and came back with a cake that had her hand and foot print in it! Mike got me one for mother's day because they had an event at Super 1. It makes me sad that they dont do things like that for Dad's. So I went and Sue and Pam helped me put her foot in there and then her hand. She got to taste the icing that was ALL over! She didn't really like it. She doesn't know what she is missing!

Oh Olivia

2008-06-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

Olivia Christine

My sweet little baby girl. Getting her up from her morning nap, i realized how much she has changed since she was born. She is growing up into such a beautiful person. She is always happy and smiling. It's not very often that she gets grumpy. She will sit and talk to you for hours if you let her. Her curiousity never seizes to amaze me. I am already so proud of her and everything that she is growing into. She has yet to bless us with a laugh. But I think she is just waiting til the right moment.

Thank you Lord, for this beautiful baby girl.

Part 2 continues!

2008-06-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite pictures of the week!

My favorite picture of Mike and I
My beautiful girl, so alert at the beach
I love this picture! Mike looks so happy!
Olivia feeling sand for the first time!
In my coat. It was VERY cold

That night, Mike and I got SOAKED! Mike woke up in the middle of the night and thought he pee'd his pants! LOL! But come to find out, no.. we were in the Sea Ranch Lake! :) LOL! Mike and I must not of let it bother us too much because we fell asleep for another 2ish hours and finally woke back up and Mike says "Okay, we are going to pull out the tent" I was thinking.. "Ummm.. it's like 3 o'clock in the morning!?" But I got dressed and soon enough we no longer had a tarp under us. We slept til 6 that morning and were pretty grumpy when we got up! We didn't want being wet to ruin our perfect day, so we got dressed extra warm and went to Cannon Beach to look at the shops! I absolutly love ALL the shops there. I wish they weren't so spendy. I probably would of bought something at every one! The art museums really got my creative juices flowing! Everything was so beautiful! I wish I had half that talent! My favorites were the waves made out of glass, these beatiful textured landscapes and this statue called "Embrace".

That night, Mike and I played "Chubby Bunny" We stuffed as many marshmellows as we could in our mouths and had to say "I love my Husband/Wife" It was so fun and I laughed so hard!

We really did have a good time. Wet or not. I was so glad to just be with Mike and not have to worry about anything. :) I didn't like having to come back home and going straight back to work the next day :( I feel like my week didn't last long enough and now I am behind on fathers day! :( AHHH!!!! Oh well.. I guess I will start my to-do list today for this week! I have 3 cards to make! :(

Oh! Here is the link to our pictures. I agree with Heather, putting them on here is kind of a pain in the butt :( http://picasaweb.google.com/hugsnsprinkles/JustUsThree

xoxoxo

God Bless

Everyone needs a vacation!

2008-06-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad that Mike and I got to get away from everyone and everything this week! :) We got to enjoy a very fun and relaxing vacation in Oregon. The first night we got to stay at Heather and Milo's! It was such a great time! Our little ones got to see each other and indulge the mommy's by letting us take pictures of them together! They are absolutly precious together and it's so fun to see Lydia's personality show! She is so cute and fun and even though she gave me the pouty lip, she made up for it the next morning with a gorgeous smile and letting me hold her!

Lydia telling Olivia secrets :)
Hot Momma's walking our girls

It really was a lot of fun being at their house. Heather even got out her old yearbooks so I could see my handsome husband in highschool. He was still handsome, in a geeky kind of way.. LOL

We left their house, and got back on the road to get to Cannon Beach! We got there too early to check into our campsite, so we headed to Seaside. We went to the little shops and bought taffy [of course!] and we tried to go down to the beach but it was WAY to windy! Olivia was trying to eat the wind the whole time!

warm inside.

We finally left because we were cold and the idea of being stuck in the car longer was a great idea because heat is my best friend. We checked into our camp and got it all ready. We ended up being right next to the ONLY other people at the campsite. But they ended up being really awesome and we hung out with them the last night talking and drinking beer.

I have so many more pictures. I think this will take me forever. :( LOL! Olivia is waking up so I must go be super mom and get her back in bed!

if you're happy and you know it...

2008-06-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

May God evertlasting love, bring you never ending joy!

3 things that make me happy.

1. Olivia is a mad-women! She wont stop squealing. No, she's not in pain or anything. She is just looking in her mirror and going BANANAS!!!!!!! She squeals and then smiles and does it again.. even though it's loud, it's the cutest thing.

2. 2 days til we get to go to oregon and I get to kiss my babies by the sea!! :)

3. Today is a busy day. I absolutly love busy days. Being out and about with Olivia is always a good time! Lets bring out the front pack!

That's all for now, I have to shower. Then run errands, bake granola bars and goodies for camp. Make sure Olivia has every one of her last possessions ;) and then cook my hubby a gourmet meal of grilled chicken sun dried tomato penne pasta! yummmmmm

Oh Suzy Q!

2008-06-02T21:26:00.001-07:00

My dear, dear susan! She is the best friend ever! She offered to give up her computer so that I would have one!! She is the best! I think our computer has officially had it. :( We are setting up the "New Computer Fund" :) :) Just kidding! So no new pictures if little miss Olivia. :( Maybe soon. :) In the mean time... I stole this beautiful picture of Susan.. she is wonderful.

Pinch Me!

2008-05-31T06:05:00.001-07:00

I'm so lucky to have such an amazing man in my life. He is the best! I always notice the little things here and there. But all the time, I notice that he keeps a constant smile on my face!

Friday night we had a date night, which we try to do, we put Olivia to bed at six and tried our hardest to stay up past 7. We ended up staying up til 9ish watching "P.S. I love you" Which was the best movie! It was so sweet and I cried ALOT. :( But it was just nice to relax with him and just be cute and flrty. I cant thank him enough for putting up with me. :)

Last night, we had some friends over for our once a month ethnic night. They chose burrito's. So we had some really tasty burritos! I also made Lava Cakes! They were awesome! When I went to put the Lava cakes in the fridge however, i managed to drop them [not the beer. hmm] and got chocolate all over my fingers! Mike wanted some and I "accidently" smeared it all over his face... i'm suprised he didn't realiate.. I guess it just means that he is going to get me back sometime! ahhh!!

Oh a much more heavier note, the computer crashed and I lost most of Olivia's pictures. Well I dont actually know how much I lost, because I have some backed up onto a disk and some recent ones on a disk, so dont really know the lose.. but right now as you are reading this.. BACK UP YOUR PICTURES!

Olivia had a wild crazy night, and was up til 8:30. Maybe she will sleep til 7... :) I'm going to go enjoy Mike and a hot cup of coffee!

xoxox

God Bless

FINALLY!

2008-05-29T17:09:00.000-07:00

The other day I was really bored and I realized that I could still blog, it just wouldn’t get to people until well, I got the internet back! Well after some serious convincing [and lots of kisses…] on my part for Mike to go to Charter, I finally got the internet back! So the next few blogs are from earlier this week and last week, but I think it’s the thought that counts.

May 28, 2008

Sexy runner’s legs here I come! :) Last night at about 8:30ish, I had this weird urge to RUN! I got up, put my hair in a bandana and tied my sneakers and I was off! I did really great for not running for 14 months! Of course, after I was done, I probably could of died but I wont worry about that. In a week or two I hope to be back to normal! I have a jogging stroller now, but according to all the books, I shouldn’t put Olivia in it until she’s 6 months. L So no running with Mommy yet! Oh well! I think I’m going to try and running with it so just in case I trip and fall on my face, I don’t take Olivia with me. It felt so amazing to be running again. I cant explain it. When I run , my mind is blank and I can just enjoy the euphoria of being outside and being lucky enough to be able to run like I do. Oh running, I have missed you!
…maybe this means bathing suit shopping soon…

Olivia is getting so big! She squeals in delight and makes all kinds of oo’s and aa’s. It is the cutest thing! I love sitting with her and just talking to her. It’s amazing how easy it is to get lost in a conversation with her. I could talk to her all day! She gets so excited when you talk to her and it’s even more fun when you read to her. It’s like she wants to read too! Mike and I have started reading to her before she goes to bed. I hope that she enjoys it as much as we do. We recently had to clean out her small little dresser. All of her PJ onesies had to get put in a bag, and some other PJ’s. I cried when I was putting away my favorite ones on her! I cant believe that she fits in all the new rompers Grandma Rinn got her. They are 6 months! She is going to be the next Giselle if she keeps this up! I’m putting all her small clothes into a Rubbermaid tub and holding on to them until we decide we want to have more babies! I want millions of little ones running around, but I’ll settle for a couple more. Probably should let Mike know. He is happy with just Olivia!

Better get ready for the day!
God Bless
xoxox

May 27, 2008
I have been bitten by the creative bug! I have been going crazy making cards, doing little crafts here and there and drawing cute little sayings to use in my scrapbooks. I might even go as far as starting Olivia’s scrapbook. OH NO! LOL! Mike says I cant until I finish ours…. But I cant help it! I just want to get started on it. And how fun will it be since it’s all pink and girly. I can add frills and bows! Oh it’s going to be great!

Mike and I have 14 days until we get to kiss by the sea! I cant wait for our trip to the ocean. I hope that Olivia is up for the 4 day change. She is pretty adaptable, I just worry about her sleeping through the night and then waking up at 5 AM to eat…yikes! I’m super excited to get to sleep over at Heather and Milo’s! It will be so fun to see how much Lydia has changed! I cant wait to hear her little laugh! I’m so blessed to have such great friends.

Speaking of blessings! Susan and I have been up to no good. We are going to start canning! I’m going to bring home a flat of strawberries to make some jam! She is my other half! We are so much alike! I’m glad to have her near! Saturday morning we sat on the couch and talked for a couple hours! I love talking to her! She always knows just what to say at just the right times. She is the kind of friend that hugs you when she sees you and says things like “ I was homesick for you all weekend” I don’t think I’ve ever had a friend that was into the same things I was. Martha Stewart watch out!

Now it’s time to put away the stamping goodies and get ready for a couple hours of slave labor.. or I guess you can call It WORK! Ew.

God Bless
xoxox

May 17, 2008
Olivia is starting to roll over!! She is such a strong girl. She holds up her head and just sits there and smiles! I think she knows that she is doing a good job! She has the best smile! It doesn’t matter what kind of mood I’m in, that smile perks me right back up! It is worth every 3 AM wake up call.

Mike and I love being parents. Some days are harder than other, but I love the fact that we are a team. J And there are no I’s in TEAM!! Ha! I wish that people could know love like Mike and I’s. We are silly and fun and never take anything seriously. Unless it’s called for… we enjoy just being with each other. Whether it’s just hanging out on the couch, or going for a walk in the Ellensburg Wind. I love him! And who doesn’t love a man that will spoil you to no end!

As I am writing this, Olivia is sitting in my lap. She is such a curious little girl. Always wants to be with Mommy. Always wants to know what is going on and what I am doing. I love her curiousity. The other day, I had to go to Maurices and get pants so while trying them on, I realized the reason for mirrors in the dressing room.. it’s to put your baby in front of, so they can talk to themselves! J It really did make for a distraction while I tried on the 54354 thousand pairs of pants in my arms! I did score a nice black pair and even a pair of blue jeans for 6 bucks! It made me feel a lot better about trying stuff on. I’m still not back to pre-baby size and I’ve come to the realization that I probably never will be. I have hips now and as my Mom says:

“Welcome to the Mommy club!”
Wow! I’m an official member. I wonder if they have a card? Just kidding.

Going without TV for the past month has been great! I have managed to get some crafts, scrapbook and even card making done. For the grandma’s, I created cards with Olivia’s hand print in pink paint! WOW! That was a task all on it’s own. She loves to grasp things now, so getting her hand flat was a great deal of fun! I managed to make 2 cards yesterday that I think turned out great! Now I am in the process of doing happy summer cards that I think are going to be fabulous! I also started sewing Olivia’s big girl blanket. The only reason I say big girl is because it is about the size of a twin bed! But it is SO cute and has loving giraffes on it! I don’t think it gets any better. I’m working on decorating the house also! I have 2 projects in the works for my coffee table and my dresser. Both need to be sanded and painted/stained. L Oh the list goes on and on. But I don’t really mind it. I love being busy. Keeps me from sitting around and doing nothing. Now if only I could get this motivated about excersise…. 200 sit ups and a jog around the block…ready or not, here we come!

Mike and I’s 1 year anniversary is MONDAY! And thanks to Susan and Adrian we are going to the Olive Garden and Yakima. Yakima more for me, Olivia Garden for the both of us! :) It will be fun! We are getting our good friend Emily G. to watch Olivia. I think it will be weird to go a whole half day without seeing her. But I think that Emily will also enjoy it A LOT! I guess her husband wants her to cure the baby blues.. now who would EVER want to do that!? I’m already thinking about the next one.. hehe.

It’s 7:04 AM and I need to get ready for garage saling!! Oh I love my Saturdays!

God bless.
xoxo