What an excellent day Saturday turned out to be! Sunshine and upper 70's. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day for Payton's 1st birthday party! We love all of our family and friends that were able to join us and help us celebrate a special day in our little girl's life. We love you all!!!
Here are a few pictures from our day. Enjoy...

It is hard to imagine that this was Reese and I playing in the baby's room the last night that I was pregnant over a year ago now! We were all 3 soooo anxious to meet little Payton. How could I have known what an amazing little girl I had growing inside me. She is our sunshine and I think that all 3 of us are so lucky to have little Payter with us. She has made Reese into an amazing big sister, and us closer as a family! You are a blessing Payton, we all love you!!!

Random, and more Random

I haven't posted about much lately, so here is a couple of weeks in review...
WARNING-A compilation of a lot of random stuff!



One of my best friends, Jodi (most of you know her:)) had a baby girl a couple of months ago, so I made her this little outfit! The headband I kind of made up from an idea I was given, but the skirt pattern I got here, which I got from this blog (thanks Echo!) And I got the shoes pattern here. The whole thing turned out so cute, I made one for Payton and Reese too! Maybe if Jodi comes out to see us anytime soon, we can get a picture of all three of them together...Just an idea Jod...


This is how I found Payton the other day...quite as a mouse:) I didn't know where she was, but low and behold, she was doing laundry! Sweet little punkin.


Last week I got to excape for an evening and go out to celebrate my good friend Becky's (she is the one in the middle) 30th Birthday! Jason finally went to bed because he didn't know where I was. We sat in the same booth for over 4 hours just chatting eachother up. All of us had escaped from our kiddos for an evening and I don't think any of us were in a hurry to get out of there! Happy Birthday Becky!!!


Talk about eating the fruits of your labor (or veggies:) This was a wonderful salad that I made myself the other night. Everything but the gargonzola is from our garden! I even made a balsamic dressing and topped it with hard boiled eggs from Scarlette and Penelope:) UMMM YUMMY...


Here is the last of my random pics! I had to include this one. How do you know that your dogs are out of water??? They try to drink from the pool:) Poor Bella, luckily I figured it out and gave the poor thing something to drink!

Happy Father's Day Everyone...I will be back this week for Payton's 1st Birthday!

Oh Sweet baby, where did 4 years go?

After 18 long hours of labor, you were so sweetly laid in my arms. The last nine months seemed to slip my mind so suddenly. All of the morning sickness, headaches and never ending swelling were gone. Wiped out!
Because I had just pushed (and I do mean pushed!) you out and couldn't believe you were finally here. Such a beautiful and sweet girl you were from the 1st minute. Today I will watch your birth so that I can be reminded of that feeling when you were first handed to me. That feeling of complete understanding, contentment and satisfaction to have you here with me.


I love you Reese Mckenzie. Like I have never loved anyone else. Like I never knew that I could love anyone else. You are a part of me. Your attitude:) (no idea where you get that:)), your funny faces, your sweet sensitivity.


You are an amazing daughter and a wonderful big sister. I love watching the little lady that you are becoming.










Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!



And yes, we will be friends forever!!!

A--Attached or Single? Attached, 12 years together, 6 married
B--Best friend/s? Jason, My Mom, Jodi, Heidi and Nellie
C--Cake or Pie? Cheesecake!!! My Mom's of course:)
D--Day of Choice? Monday actually, Everyone else goes back to work so I can finally run errands in peace:)
E--Essential Item? Coffee, and my camelbak water bottle, with water of course:)
F--Favorite Color? Pink or Aqua Blue
G--Gummy bears or worms? Worms
H--Hometown? Tumwater
I--Indulgence(s)? Coffee, Wine, a good book, and a good foot lotion!
J--January or July? july, I am a sunbather:)
K--Kids? 2, Reese Mckenzie, almost 4 and Payton Jeanae, almost 1
L--Life is incomplete without? A phone to talk to the ones I love
M--Marriage date? March 22nd, 2003
N--Number of siblings? 2 brothers, Jason 38 and Justin 35
O--Oranges or apples? Apples, Honeycrisp
P--Phobias or fears? Losing my girls and Spiders:)
Q--Quotes? "To Each There Own..."
R--Reason to Smile? My girls laughter, it gets me everytime
S--Season? Summer, I love the outdoors!
T--Tag 5 people? Shoot, I have to think of new people! Larissa, Erica, Jenn, Sarah and Becky
U--Unknown Fact? I have always had an outy belly button:)
V--Very Favorite Store? Target of course:) Or JoAnn Fabric. I get in trouble everytime I go into either!
W--Worst Habit? I always interupt Jason when he is talking. Sorry Babe:)
X--X-ray or ultrasound? I would have to say Ultra Sounds. A never ending amount of ovarian sists when I was younger and then of course 2 pregnancies!
Y--Your favorite food? Food in general:) Homemade goodies!
Z--Zodiac? Taurus

Just a little hike

Sitting here on a Friday morning, on the couch, with a cup of my morning favorite in hand. Jason asks me, "What do you want to do today?" "It is my last day off."
Let me translate, "I have to go back to work tomorrow and make money for the family, and I would really like to do something fun before I go back"
(I should mention that he has been off for 3 weeks).
So, knowing him as I do, I went with the latter and asked him what he would like to do. He basicaly told me get some clothes on the girls and jump in the car with our hiking shoes, kid carriers, water and sandwiches, b/c we were off! He wanted to drive all the way over to Lena Lake! Now also knowing him as well as I do, I decided not to dash his hopes, (he holds grudges:)) and the girls and I obliged him. I didn't shower, threw on hiking clothes, got our teeth brushed and loaded us into the car. Payton even obliged her Daddy and took her morning nap in the car just as he said she would.
Unfotunaltey, J missed a highway on our way and gave us an extra 15 inutes in the car. Which is crucial at 11 mos. old. She was done being in the car by the time we got to our destination. Good thing Mommy convinced Daddy to go to Staircase instead. It was a little closer and offered Reese more options for making the hike on her own!
Needless to say, I always look at Jason cross-eyed when he comes at me with these ideas. But I always end up going and we have a blast. Just as we did today! So don't mind my messy, un-showered look, I had to sacrafice something this morning:)
We hope you all had a good friday, and have a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend...

A Garden update and Family Pics

A little update on the garden and chickens...
The chicks finally went into the coupe about 2 weeks ago! They sure have come a long way since we brought the 2 of them home in 1 light bulb box!
Penelope starting laying about the same time the chicks went into the coupe. It was so exciting to go out to collect Scarlett's green egg and find a brown one in there. We talked to Penelope and told her "good girl". We were so tickled:) We are now getting almost 2 eggs a day and in the fall it should be about 4/day. Yum-Yum:)
I also finally was able to get 1 side of the coupe painted. This red takes 3-4 coats. Which means here in western Wa. that I need 3-4 consecutive days of no rain just to get 1 side done. We all know how rare that is, so I am lucky I have 1 side done:) Although, it looks like I have a few days right now to get some done, so I think I will be out there today working on it!
This gardening thing is all new to me. Most of my seed starts really struggled:( I have had to re-plant a couple of times. Maybe too early? So I finally headed out to Home Depot a few weeks ago and got some starts. Those are really happy:) My most recent seeds have really taken off too. It was great to come home from our trip last week to all of our happy and healthy plants and to see that they had all doubled in size while we were gone. I guess all that rain did them some good?
I can't wait until I can harvest some of this. How rewarding to go grocery shopping in my own back yard:)




And here are a few of our Family Pictures that we had taken in April. This great photographer took them. We met down at Owen's Beach at Pt. Defiance Park. It was that rare day in April when it was almost 80 degrees! The girls really cooperated and we had a great time. Heather was really easy to work with and we would totally recomend her to anyone.
Hope all is well with everyone:) Cheers-