This Is Me....

He's growing up...

2012-02-02T15:12:00.001-08:00

Ryder came home today with not so great news for me. He got in trouble at school and had to have a time out for talking and not listening at carpet time. Let's face it he a lot like his mom! So he got his DS taken away or the day and evening and he had to sit and write a little sorry note to his teacher. I'm sorry but it's so stinkin cute I have to giggle I myself. I know this isn't going to be the first and only time he has a little issue in class, like I said hes a lot like his mama. But at least we can take the steps to acknowledging it and figure out how we can not have this problem again and again :)

I have a passion

2011-12-30T20:15:00.001-08:00

I'm not as good as my sister or the other photographers in my life but I have definitely discovered my love for photography. I enjoy more of the unique scenery photos over people or families. And I love doing the editing! I would never quit my day job, but it's super fun and I feel like its just yet another creative outlet for myself. :)

it will be a sad sad day....

2011-12-29T21:55:00.001-08:00

The time is coming and I knew it would buy just not really ready for it. I'm talking about my sweet puppers JJ. J is going on 15 years old now and still acting good but moving slower and slower each day. the colder it gets the more we see him going down hill. He also has a lump on one of his back legs. Usually it goes in and out but stays pretty small, well now it's getting bigger and bigger and lets face it at 15 years old we're not going to put a lot of money in to him. The day I have to put him down will probably be the hardest day I have ever had to go through. I've had j since he was 9weeks old! He has been in my life before my kids and husband. Thinking about him today I started crying just thinkin about it I can't even imagine the actual day.... :(

a few of my favorite things. (right now)

2011-12-02T16:34:00.000-08:00

1. CHRISTMAS MUSIC!

2. CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!

3. CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

4. HOLIDAY DRINKS

(Eggnog Lattes, Peppermint Mochas, Caramel Brulee lattes)

5. AND LITTLE GINGERBREAD MEN THAT HAVE SPECIAL LITTLE TREATS FOR MOMMY AND DADDY ;)

Perfect afternoon.

2011-12-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite months! It's a busy one but if you take the time to take in a little of it each day, it's seriously one of the best times of the year.

It doesn't happen often but this week I actually had a couple days to just be home and catch up on cleaning, decorate for Christmas and do a few crafts with the kids. I sit here now sipping my candy cane tea quietly listening to Christmas music thinking of all the things I am thankful for this time of year and how the kids and I can give back in some way to our neighbors around us.

Think it's time to get out my book and curl up in my chair with the sun beaming down on me and snuggled in my favorite blanket. Yup one of the many reasons I love this time of year so much. The super cold temps and beaming sun. Perfect combo!!!

quick update

2011-11-15T15:32:00.000-08:00

it's been awhile so I won't go in to major details about everything, cause believe me I think that would take hours!

When school started we all went on a new schedule, Ryder is in school half days 5 days a week, Justin is working mostly 6 days a week cause they are super busy right now, Averee is in daycare one day a week and adjusting to brother being gone everyday during the week, and I'm working 3 full days at the salon and busier then I could have imagined!

Ryder: finally making progress and growing a tid bit in height ;) loves school so much and all the little smarty pants wants to do is Math! He surely didn't get that from me! haha He has also started to read!! He is overly excited to finally be able to sound out the words and start on this journey of reading like his big cousins. It's very cute. We have been trying to get him involved in somethings just to see what he might want to do with his extra time. We tried wrestling and that wasn't really for him, we've tried soccer and that wasn't really for him and he doesn't want to play flag football only tackle and they don't have that for his age around here (not that I would even let him do tackle at his age!! Way to young!) So anyways on this search we have really come up with only one thing he is in love with and wants to do all the time. GOLF... He is his daddy's son! I'm not much of a golfer and I'm sure if you've read my blogs before you know I'm not much of a fan of golf either haha, But he loves it and is pretty good at it already. So we are looking in to a junior club for him to join, we luck out living some where, where you can actually golf just about year around!

Averee: She is my giant and she loves the attention she gets from it! LOL she is now only about a half an inch shorter then her brother! and only about 3lbs lighter. She is my little super star! She maybe a little shy but she is slowly coming out of her shell and is discovering what she loves to do. SOCCER! She will play for hours and dribbles the ball any where she can and all day long! Snow, Sun, Rain she will be outside with that ball. We kept her home this year from preschool, and put her in daycare just to get her socializing with others before school next year. It's helping a ton! She loves LOVES daycare. we are working on our letters and writing at home. It's wonderful at night to see both kids at the table doing their "homework" and Ryder helping her if she needs it. :) But don't let that sweet smile fool you! She is a spit fire! she is her mother through and through! haha

Justin and I have been having a wonderful year. I'm so thankful I'm married to such an amazing man! We just celebrated 9 years of marriage and with everything going on around us it's made us really focus on us and cherish each day. Wow... a little sappy sorry! let me explain a little more.

My sister is going through a nasty divorce after 14 years of marriage. I will say it's been trying at times. My sister.. her ex being a good friend of my husbands... need I say more...

But even with it's tough moments we both vowed at the beginning of this we would not fight or share details with each other. It's not our divorce. And with that watching from the inside and out I feel like we have learned so much! So for us yes I'm going to get a little sappy here and there for a while I think! ;)

Ok that was my quick update, now to move on and prepare for my extra special, extra long blog tomorrow about my 5 day trip to Vegas I just got back from!!

Back on the wagon!

2011-11-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

I vow to blog at least every other day if not everyday from now on, through the Holidays!

It's my favorite time of year and I do believe I have way more to share and say about everything, around this time of year! ;)

Fall is in the air!!!

2011-09-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the first day of my favorite season

FALL!

and yes I have already started the process of decorating the house. :)

Sometimes we forget.

2011-08-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

yesterday I had the privilege of going with my sister and helping her shoot a beautiful wedding at Diamond Woods

on top of that I got to catch up with a few old friends that were in the wedding. While there, I was caught off guard when one of them looked at me and said "I wish I had your life!" I think I looked at her a little strange cause she started to explain. She started talking about my work and how I always have good days, and spending time at the pool, hiking, and always going to do fun things. I said thank you and kinda started to defend that not everyday is great, and we all have your speed bumps in life. But then later thinking about it all, made me really look at my life (and not just my FB life) ;) and honestly I forget how lucky I TRULY am!! I do have a fabulous job, and so lucky I get to make my own hours. I work just enough to enjoy and see the faces of the wonderful girls I work with, catch up with my great clients, and get a little sanity back from being home with the kids all week. My kids are wonderful, and we have so much fun together! Yes we are spoiled with being able to take advantage of the pool any day of the week, but that just goes with living where we do, and another thing that goes with that is the surroundings and great adventures we get to take advantage of when ever we want! Hiking, fishing, playing in the snow, all the festivals, floating the river, and all of the above!

WELCOME TO CENTRAL OREGON BABY!!!

Yet another reason I love where we live so so much!

I'm blessed to have an amazing husband, that helps with what ever I need, and enjoys spending time with his family even when it's not something he would really want to be doing. We have so much fun together and make each other laugh every day.

So yes after stopping and looking at things and reflecting on my daily life,

I will agree "I would want my life also!" ;)

I won't say it's perfect, cause it's far from that, but I wouldn't change a thing. We have our speed bumps and even mountains we have to over come some days, but we take each one and learn from it, and enjoy the out come.

So I ask you to just take a couple minutes and reflect on what if SO WONDERFUL about your life. I think it's way to easy to get caught up in everyday life, and forget about what we really have.

Picture Perfect Monday

2011-08-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

LOL...

we really do love each other to death!

Oh where Oh where has summer gone...

2011-08-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

We have about 2 weeks of summer left.. WHAT???

How in the world did that happen?

Well lately we are trying to get life and schedules figured out. I think I'm getting there but we'll see how it works out. HA! The kids start a new daycare tomorrow. They will only be there one day a week for the rest of August, then come September Averee will be there 2 half days and Ryder one half day and then he will go to an after school program one day a week. My work schedule has gone from super busy to cramming everyone in to 2 half days and about every other weekend. I'm a little nervous how this is going to go? I do have some new adventures in a new career direction, or at least something I'm going to explore. :) It's in the opposite direction as my nails, but after talking with the husband thinking it may be a great opportunity for me? again we will see where the road takes us. This summer hasn't turned out nearly how I had planned. Every weekend we have been busy with nothing fun, and I'm working so much we don't really have the time to go and do to many fun things. But we are super lucky and having a blast being able to go to the pool everyday we can! The kids love it!!

In a couple weeks we head in to hunting season, and with that I had to jump on the chance to get a few family photos taken. So this past weekend we headed out to Smith Rock to have a quick shoot. with both kids not feeling to hot and the hubster missing his Redskins playing, it was a super quick shoot! but it worked and they turned out awesome!

Thanks

DreamUp Photography

I think even with the little summer we have had, I'm ready to head in to Fall full force!!

Happy end of Summer everyone!

Daddy's girl

2011-07-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

No matter what I bribe her with lately, all Averee wants is DADDY! When she wakes up she wants daddy, she goes to bed daddy to tuck her in, everything daddy. Including being his little helper in what ever he is doing, including working on the cars. It's so cute!! Ryder is in the picture but Averee was down there for about 15 min. before I got the camera. She loves her daddy with all her heart.

Picture Perfect Monday

2011-07-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

It's so exhausting to be a kitten

Late night ramblings...

2011-07-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

It's almost 11 o'clock and I'm sitting on the couch catching up on So You Think You Can Dance, with my husband in the back ground sighing, do to me being up later then usual interrupting his "tv" time. I just feel like I have had so much going on in my life and mind lately. So much is going on around us! Life gets crazy so fast and yet we still keep going from day to day and I always sit here every night after the long days, coming home making dinner, bathing kids, picking up, being a referee, yelling a few times, and finally getting the kids off to bed (of course tucking them in not once but a few times) and then sitting, finally sitting with my Dt Pepsi usually in hand and then letting the day sink in. Or should I say stress sink in. It seems like the last year or so it's one thing after another, and it's not just me and my family, it's everyone around us, strangers, friends, and loved ones. Sometimes life takes us for a roller coaster ride through good and bad. I have learned you take it day by day and we may not always come out on top but we always come out learning something new about ourselves and the others around us. I have surrounded myself with such amazing family and friends, I feel like I can get through anything life throws at me! I try to be the best friend I can be to everyone I love. listen and try to encourage them in the best way I can. Sometimes it just takes an ear to listen for 3 hours and let the other person talk their heart out.

Me personally...

I have been going back and forth in my head so much, just cause I "want" so much! I want my kids to have everything, and to give my husband the life and enjoyment he wants for both of us. and right now it's just not in our deck of cards. I would love to say we both are working tons and life is wonderful. BUT... we have our moments, life is hard, kids are busy, time is lost, work is slow at times, and marriage is work!! One of us will get down about being broke after the bills are paid, and I'm really REALLY trying to look at this in a different way right now. I have to remember and be thankful for everything we have and get to do! My kids are young and honestly if we just went out on a hike or took a little picnic some where and let them fish, it's totally the little things they LOVE. And the late nights of Mario Cart with my hubby to remind us why we can't live without each other. ;) This weekend reminded me why I love where we are in life, even through all the stress and not fun moments. Saturday we headed down to the Old Mill, after dinner with my sister, her kids, brother and his daughter, to watch the "Night Glow" (aka Hot Air Balloons, going up at dusk) it was SO BEAUTIFUL!!! we found a great place on the grass, all the guys/kids played football until the balloons went up. Justin usually isn't up for coming to all the "odd" things we do in Bend, but this weekend he was there and you could tell the kids loved him being there and he did too. :) Bend always has some thing going on every weekend and most of the time it's all free! I take advantage almost every week to go do something fun. I still have a ton of stuff to do around the house and haven't been putting anytime in to it at all, but I"m hoping with slowing down at work I will have that extra time I've been lacking. The next few weeks are going to fly by, and summer is going to be gone before we know it! After long talks, I think Justin and I have decided to keep Averee home this year and not put her in Preschool. I just don't think she is fully ready for it and financially it's in our best interest to keep her home one more year(she is only 3 after all) . I'm also in the process of trying to find a new sitter for one day a week, for when school starts. With my little sister finding a "real" job, older sister going to beauty school full time, and my brothers music taking off and him having to fly out to the east all the time, I'm finally having to find a real sitter. I'm going to meet one on Wed. and she watches a lot of kids I know and parents I work with or have as clients so hopefully it all pans out. Come school time I'm going back to working weekends and not really looking forward to it at all. But it's what we have to do to save a little money right now, so weekends you are my new best friend!

OK well like I said this is late night ramblings so I now will turn off the computer and head to bed and reread this post in the morning and think what the hell was I writing!

Picture Perfect Monday

2011-07-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

FAMILY

means everything

The little things you see & learn

2011-07-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

Last week while enjoying ourselves at Munch n Music in downtown Bend, I came across something that caught my eye.

This adorable little "fanny pack" if you want to call it! I had to get a picture! It has pockets on both sides to carry what ever you need. As we got to talking to her about it, we found out it's her friend that works at Angelina's Bakery in Sister's that gets them from India and sells them here. Her friend travels over there and brings back beautiful stuff to sell here in the states. It was a fun little find with a great little story. Just another reason why I love Summer evenings in Bend!

This Moment

2011-07-08T21:46:00.000-07:00

She wanted to take her nail polish off all by herself.

HEART

this picture!

Harlee

2011-07-08T16:49:00.000-07:00

brought home a new addition!

This is Harlee.

she is so sweet and already is taking to the kids so well and chasing them all over the house

(we'll see what the hubby says when he comes home to a new kitty in the house!!)

a summer night.. FINALLY!

2011-07-03T20:11:00.000-07:00

Finally I feel like summer is upon us! I have been waiting day by day for it to arrive. It really is one of my favorite times a year here in Central Oregon!

It's beautiful!!!

and here is why

Worked a good 10 hour day yesterday with no brakes, finally got off hopped in my sister's rig and headed down to Old Mill. Had a fabulous dinner at Anthony's Fish House and sat outside on the patio, drinking margarita's, eating yummy fish and just taking in the sun, river, interesting people walking by, and the sounds of Weed (apparently a band from the 90's). It didnt' matter I knew nothing about the concert going on. Just the fact I got to sit there enjoy every minute of it and RELAX... Seriously does it get any better then that?

OH yes it does! we ended the evening with a great movie.

Larry Crowne

If you have never been to Central Oregon, it is a must see place. Surrounded by Mountains, rivers, and amazing weather in the summer. Being a holiday weekend it seemed a Little extra busy around our neck of the woods, but I'm sure that having Bachelor open for the first time ever on the 4th of July brought a ton of people our way this weekend!!! (yes I said the ski resort was opening up tomorrow! First time ever they have had the lifts open in the middle of summer. They have more snow up there right now, then at the peak of the season this winter.)

Picture Perfect Monday

2011-06-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

Pink Shoes for our ALL PINK Breast Cancer Walk!

2011-06-05T21:45:00.000-07:00

My daughter "trying or lip singing" one of her favorite songs to us in the car today.

Teenage Dream, Katy Perry

A great find! haha

2011-06-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

go grocery shopping with my mom and aunt this weekend, get back to my sisters and my aunt had bought this...

made me giggle.

So kids don't forget

"just say NO to BREAD ON DRUGS!"

A walk for a cause

2011-06-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

Another great year walking for a cause with my family.

It is such a wonderful feeling when you are done and you get to experience such an amazing thing with survivors, husbands, families, and friends of all the survivors!

Thank you everyone in Pink that took part in the Heaven Can Wait Run/Walk!

I will admit....

2011-05-31T22:07:00.000-07:00

I am an coffee-aholic!

give me a cup from a good ol fashion coffee maker, or some thing fancy I will drink it.

Lately at work, it seems to be the only thing my diet consists of during the day. ugh... I know it's to much, but it's easy and I can drink it while doing a client and it's not awkward sipping a cup of coffee compared to shoving my face with food!

Last week I made some smart ass comment to my husband, "the day I give up coffee will be the day he gives up candy!" He's a total candy hoarder and has a special shelf in the kitchen the kids don't even know about full of candy!

Saturday afternoon, as I'm complaining (on are way home with a back seat full of kids screaming and all hyped up from seeing Kung Fu Panda 2) how I could really go for a coffee, Justin looked at me and said "I thought you were giving that up?" I looked at him like he was smokin something crazy and maybe needed to share? He looked all crazy back at me and said "I haven't had any candy for 3 days now, I thought that was the deal?" WHAT????!!!!!! Ok well maybe next time you decide to actually go along with a bet you should tell the other person! Now I will say a little friendly competition between husband and wife is truly needed every once in a while. ;) So I have now not had even one coffee for 3 days and will admit (only to you, not him) I feel great! I actually feel like I have more energy, then when I was drinking it!

the end of my 3 day weekend

2011-05-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

what a great weekend we had! I loved being home and spending all my time with my kiddos! The hubby had to work, but we still got to see each other on Saturday so we got a little family time. :)

Ending our weekend with baking today! Oh how I missed the kitchen and baking.....

plus a yummy "kid friendly" trail mix. It was a busy productive day and I loved every minute of it!

All girl!

2011-05-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

The fun we have when mom brings home all her polishes from work!

Makes one happy happy girl, getting her toes and fingers painted any color she wants!

When you ask a 3 year old to clean

2011-05-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

This is what you get!

love her to pieces, but I think we are going to have to work on her cleaning ;)

Picture Perfect Monday

2011-05-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

This Moment

2011-05-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

Sitting on the couch with my kiddos, eating popcorn, and looking out the window at this!

I feel so lucky to have a view like this out my living room window!

The mountains are gleaming white, with the colors of dusk and darkness blending together to make a light grey hue over the mountains, and then you see a faint light pink outlining the back of them.

BEAUTIFUL

(wish I had a better camera to actually give you the picture I am seeing)

Life Lately...

2011-05-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

I feel like it's been forever since I've been on here rambling about my no non sense life. But I guess that's what happens when life gets busy and I leave my computer at home, cause I really don't have the time to chat or write when I'm at work!

Work... Oh man.. Talk about crazy busy right now. I'm so SO thankful I'm busy especially in my line of work but oh my goodness I'm feeling like that is all I ever do anymore! The salon is picking up and summer is coming and that means my busy season is just around the corner! Wait I'm already there!!!

I love every minute of it, except when I have to drop off the kids. :( This sucks! I truly don't know how you full time working mommies out there do it! not only is it breaking my heart when my little Averee is crying at the door cause she doesn't want me to leave BUT I have no time to keep up on all my chores around the house! My laundry is so backed up it's scaring me to actually get started on it so it just keeps getting put off, until the weekend and then my wonderful husband tackles it. hehe This time of year is my favorite time for planting and getting my outside all ready for flowers and lookin pretty. and well lets just say that has been put off also so outside is totally not looking pretty right now. It's sad actually.... But through this all I know I can't complain and I need to just be thrilled that I'm as busy as I am. AND THANKFUL that my kids get to be home with daddy or get to spend time at their aunts and uncles when I'm at work. I know, I know we are all so spoiled! But they have been my life savers lately!

Other then work life is just busy with everyday stuff. Ryder is all signed up for Kindergarten and Averee for Preschool next year! Monday we have open house for Ry's new class, and can you believe he only has 3 weeks left of school! Summer is coming upon us way to fast! I love my son to death but I have to keep him busy or he will be bouncing off the walls not knowing what to do with himself from the time he wakes up until he goes to bed!! Averee would be thrilled just to play outside all day and wonder around in her own little world being a pretty pretty princess. All she tells us is "when I grow up, mommy I"m going to be a princess!" I love her to pieces!!

The Kids:

Ryder: My talkative, outgoing, all smiles, and loving boy. all he is in to right now is Lego's! Everything is Lego's! I think this next year I'm actually going to get him in to a Lego/Mechanics building club cause I really have never seen another 5 year old that can build what he can!

He seems to finally be growing! this sounds silly but my little Ry guy is the second littlest in his class and has always been on the lower end for height and weight. He finally is in a 5T!! We have been having some issues with his tummy for the last few months. the poor guy has been having some really bad reactions to sugar. I know it sounds wonderful to most moms. Yay no sugar! but it's hard and we are taking it day by day and have taken him off all refined sugar and slowly cutting out processed foods. Seems to be working cause we haven't had any problems for a couple weeks now. Wish us luck, for the whole family is slowly making these changes and lets just say it's a little easier for some then others. ;)

Averee: My shy, sweet, caring, sensitive, fashionista! She is all about shoes and strawberry shortcake! She still isn't to talkative like her brother, but is slowly figuring out if she wants to be heard or get a word in edge wise she has to be loud. LOL you will all of a sudden hear this sweet high pitched voice yelling over her brother "it's my turn to talk!!!" I can't help but giggle every time this happens, cause Ryder is so me with his loud voice. Averee is all girl, and all about what she wears and having her hair done daily, having her nails painted, and matching accessories! Opposite then her mommy, but I love the girly things she brings out in me everyday. :) She is still growing like a weed and is only about a quarter inch shorter then her bother. She also is in a 5T! I get asked at least once a week if they are twins!!

I wouldn't be able to make it through the last month, month and half without my wonderful husband! He is picking up all the slack at home and always has a smile on his face when I roll in around 10 o'clock at night from the salon and just want to go straight to bed. He picked the kids up, feed them dinner, picked up any mess, bathed them, tucked them in to bed and has all my favorite shows recording so I can catch up on them later. What more could a girl ask for!?

Now that I'm a little more caught up on here hopefully I can keep up on my daily/weekly blogs!

Sister Date!

2011-05-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had the chance to actually take the time out of my crazy busy schedule and have a little.. "much needed" sister date! (it was about 9 o'clock at night, late for both of us!) We had a great dinner then headed to see a movie.

BRIDESMAIDS

Hilarious movie!! A must see!

For my sister.

Yeah I know that there is pain

But you hold on for one more day and you
Break free, break from the chains ;)

Totally Chic

2011-05-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

What I do for a living I absolutely LOVE and this is why.

I could wear this "polish" and no one would think twice about it!

In love with this look!

Totally chic. Well I guess in my little beauty world. haha

Catch up time!

2011-05-19T21:01:00.000-07:00

The weekend is coming and guess what? I'm finally going to have the weekend off and I'm going to have a little time to actually catch up on my blog!!!

But for now I will leave you with my new little joy.

It's nothing fancy, but I'm enjoying it so much!!

It's the little things that make me happy, I'm just a simple girl. :)

A little "extra" Vitamin D

2011-05-05T16:16:00.000-07:00

I know it's been awhile. But we have been or should I say I have been SO BUSY at work lately when I get home all I want to do is crash. On top of being super busy at work, it seems everyone I mean everyone in our family has been super sick. First it was Ryder, then Averee, then both my sisters, husband, brother in law, brother, and all 4 of my sister's kids. Yup I was the only one that did not come down with this nasty nasty stuff!! Easter was filled with a bunch of sickies but we still have fun. The kids started to get better, but ended up having to take Averee in for an ear infection (first one of the season!!!) turned out to be a double ear infection, and while we were there she wanted to look at Ry's ears and he had his FIRST ear infection ever! Got them on meds, and they are doing great. Justin is still fighting it, but I'm sure it's cause he hasn't slowed down at all to let his body recover.

Today was the first day I feel like I may be coming down with it. SO.... I have decided to start the Emergen-C, and all the reading I have been doing I'm loading I mean LOADING up on Vitamin D for 3 days and they say it should kick it with no problem! Lets hope!! I can't get as sick as everyone has.

Here's to a few "extra" bottles of liquid Vitamin D!

Let's hope it works!!

2011-04-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

Oh the joys of figuring out what is all out here when you live in the country.

This is Mr. KingCooper

Found over the weekend while Logan and Garrett were having a sleep over and the entire day consisted of building forts in all the trees, hide and seek all over the property in teams with walkie-talkies, chasing all the jack-rabbits, and the joys of catching lizards!

Oh the fun my kids are having discovering new things daily!

Starttled mama... just a little.

2011-04-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

The kids and I braved the cold the other day and went adventuring out on another little hike, the wind got a little to cold for us down by the canyon, and the kids were begging to go to the park, so we headed down and when we got there this is what I see as we walk in!

Ok Ok I know they live around here BUT really the only place we have seen or been "warned" about the snakes is on one of the trails out by Smith Rock. I will admit ever since we saw this I have been having nightmares about these stupid reptiles!! Oh well I guess it's something we are just going to have to get used to and live with. Still scary!! lol

An extra pic from our hike. :)

have they grown yet?!

2011-04-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

About a week ago the kids and I planted some seeds inside

the kids loved it and I can't wait to replant them outside and get or garden all done up and going!

This year we are having to do a little extra. Justin is having to fence all around the area so the deer and sweet bunnies stay out and don't eat my goods!

Yesterday we heard Ryder squeal "there growing!!!!!" he was so excited to show us the first seeds that have sprouted!

I absolutely LOVE that the kids are so excited and interested in planting, watching, and picking in our future garden!

our mid week hike.

2011-04-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

A few pictures from our hike yesterday in the sun.

A peaceful morning

2011-04-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

This is what I get to wake up to every morning.

Gorgeous!

(this is looking out my windows in my living room)

A boy & his dog

2011-04-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

Miss Lucy has really proven me wrong this past year (I have always had terrible luck with horrible puppies!!). She is such a sweet sweet puppy and I truly don't know what we would do without her in our family. She let's the kids do anything and everything to her and she has a special special place in her heart for Ryder.

They play, sleep, eat, and spend every waking moment together....

and I swear she loves every minute of it! haha

Picture Perfect Monday

2011-04-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

My beautiful little Princess in her "fancy" new dress her Aunt Karri got for her. :)

Strawberries!

2011-04-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

Both my kiddos favorite food!

STRAWBERRIES!

anyone know when we can go picking in the valley?

New Friends

2011-04-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

We have learned fast out here there are many MANY dogs in our neighbor hood.

The other night we had 3 dogs running around in our yard,

and then last night while I was at work I got this picture

when Justin got home last night JJ and Lucy had made a new friend.

And he wouldn't leave..

He had no tags just a collar. Justin let the other two dogs inside and this little guy sat outside the door howling! He finally stopped, so Justin went out to see if he had finally adventured on home.

Nope...

He finally went out and was petting him (cause he is just as much a sucker for dogs as I am!) and realized his number was actually on his collar, so he called and the owner came and picked him up last night.

He was very excited to go home. :)

Happy Easter! (well in a few weeks)

2011-04-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

Over this last weekend, the kids and I were invited to go see the new Animated/Human movie

HOP

It was adorable!! A must see if you have kids or even if you don't!

the kids are still talking about the bunny that poops candy! haha

New Fav Song!

2011-04-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

My Special Spot....

2011-04-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

This has turned in to my FAVORITE place in the house!! It may not look like much right now, but last week I had a huge bouquet of daffodils in the middle of my table and believe me it's the most fantastic place when the kids are in bed, Justin is upstairs watching tv or doing what he wants, the radio is on low down here, and just the little light in the kitchen is on, while I sit here in the quiet and play on the computer, or read a magazine, or doing work stuff. IT SERIOUSLY IS THE GREATEST SPOT IN THE HOUSE!

Picture Perfect Monday

2011-04-04T19:39:00.000-07:00

Everyone has a story...

2011-04-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday night and I spent it grocery shopping with the fam at walmart. Now I will admit, you do get to see the "crazies" when you go in after 8, but tonight was a little different. I'm not one to jump to judgment, or even snub someone cause they look a certain way or maybe they have a few teeth missing? who knows. Anyways, while Averee and I are going up and down the isles trying to find what we needed, (Justin and Ry are goofing off with the cart) this little boy looking a little rough around the edges, maybe 9, 10 years old stood next to me with a shopping cart, and grocery list, looking completely lost on what he was looking for, yet totally comfortable that he was doing grocery shopping all alone. He smiled at us we smiled back and that broke the ice. He needed help finding stuff on his list, I hear a "mam can you help me find this?" so Averee and I added a few extra isles in to our own shopping so we could help him find what he needed. I never asked where his parents were or what his story was, but he was such a sweet heart and I have to say even though I walked out of the store a little worried about him, he also made me so thankful for everything I have and my kids have and he brought a smile to my heart. I hope it's just a matter of his parents are sick and he was just helping out, but what ever his story I just have to say Thank You to him for warming my heart a little tonight.

YUM!

2011-04-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

In love....

My "new" country pup.

2011-03-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

It's tough learning how to be a country dog.

This is what happens when you play and run all afternoon!
She is snoring as loud as a human!

Only my daughter.

2011-03-31T16:39:00.000-07:00

Out of all the fabulous colors of polish my daughter has to choose from, she picks SPARKLE ORANGE!

Really?

It's her favorite right now and has me repolish daily!

Home Sweet Home

2011-03-31T16:02:00.000-07:00

Here we are on week 2 at our new house. Sorry it's been so long for an update, but now that we are Country folk again we have been having some troubles with getting Internet!! I thought my life was going to end! ;) hehe I have to admit it was pretty nice to not have the distraction while I was needing to unpack and settle in. I can't believe how fast this place has become "home" to us all. The kids and dogs have been playing outside daily even with our crappy weather we have been having!

Lets get back to the beginning...

Our plans were to fully move everything Saturday ( a week and half ago ) and as I sat at work the Friday before watching a nasty snow/wind storm flurry outside, panic came over me! How in the world were we supposed to move in this type of weather!! We woke up Saturday morning to partly sunny skies and felt so lucky. Justin and I started getting the trailer loaded only to figure out that one of his friends that helped us move some stuff earlier in the week had dropped the hitch we needed off at the new house! So we got a hold of my brother who was watching my sisters 3 youngest for the weekend and had her rig, and we got him to come over to help us get the trailer out to the new house. that is how our move stared.. It actually went really smooth and with in only 2 trips had the house fully moved (it's great not being a pack rat!) and only the garage left. with hungry kids and men fluttering around the house I stopped on the way back out and grab some stuff to BBQ and we ended our night with good food and surrounded by boxes. Sunday came to fast and we headed back to the house. I got a little cleaning done while Justin loaded up the garage. For some reason our Sunday just got away from us? We got back and again it was evening, got dinner going and I managed to get half the kitchen and the bathroom unpacked (the necessities, due to me having to be at work by 9 am the next morning) Usually I would be freaking out about Justin being slow at work, but it was SO SO wonderful having him home for the last couple weeks! I have been overly busy at work and with moving it just has helped so much. Anyways.... I worked an almost 12 hour shift on Monday came home to the hubby and kids just goofing around all day, and exploring the new surroundings. I couldn't be mad at them cause really that is all I wanted to do too! Finally Tuesday came and I was thinking we would get a little done around the house, BUT.... The dog had to be at the vet by 8 am to get fixed and we thought since we were in town we might as well get the old house clean and done, that way we could turn in the keys and wash our hands of it.. I was so lucky to have a wonderful brother and best friend come help with all the cleaning and although it took all day it felt so good to be done with it! When we got back to the house Katie helped me unpack the rest of the kitchen and Ryder's room. All he wanted was his room out of boxes and set up, he was so excited about his room! Wednesday finally came and I got to wake up and breath.... We had no plans and from the moment I woke up I started making our new house our home. By that night I had the whole house unpacked and decorated!!! Felt so good. But I crashed that night and didn't get to fully enjoy it until Thursday, which was my brothers birthday so we had to be in Bend by 10 for breakfast!! I swear the last week and half is a total blur! Come Friday I was back to work and worked all weekend. Monday... Oh Monday... I FINALLY got to just wake up and get back in to our "normal" routine! Felt so good to drop Ry off at school and just come home and sip on my coffee! And the last few days have just been that. Relaxing and getting back in to routine.

We all have fallen in love with our new house. I thought it would be a little adjusting having a split level house. Down stairs is 2 bedrooms (the kids), the kitchen, dining room, and bathroom. Upstairs is the master and living room. Strange set up, but absolutely love it! My mom came last weekend to see the new place and while the guys were upstairs watching March Madness, my mom and I sat down stairs at the kitchen table and enjoyed our quiet time to just catch up. The kids have had no problems with their rooms down stairs. I do have a baby monitor in Averee's room (hiding) just so I can hear them at night if they need us. :) But when they play we can't hear them, AND the best part, their toys actually stay in their rooms for the most part!! not all over the living room!

I think that is really all I have to report for now.

I don't really have to many pictures of the house right now, but this weekend I will try and post some of the house all decorated. :)

Averee and I were sitting at the kitchen table when we looked out our window and saw a total of 14 deer just walkin through our yard. She was in awww!

This was moving day.

The puppies, kids, cat, and myself love looking out our big windows! They look out to all the mountains on a clear day. So pretty! Oh ya did I mention it's snowed just about everyday since we moved? Ugh...

I'll post more soon!

The Hubby is in Heaven!

2011-03-30T19:03:00.000-07:00

We not only have moved to a place with a gorgeous golf coarse (so I hear, I don't actually or will never golf) but it got even better for my husband this weekend when I came across this driving around.

In the picture you can only see a few golf carts.

BUT

there were actually like 7 all parked outside the little saloon with all their clubs in the back yet no golfers?

LOL

I'm in trouble!

What I love about Spring

2011-03-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

The one and only thing I miss dearly about the valley!

Spring flowers!!!

Thank you mommy for bringing me these beautiful flowers!

holding back the tears.

2011-03-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

Tonight it finally hit that we were actually moving and won't be at this house past tonight. :(

As we took a load out to the new house tonight I have found myself with a little pit in my stomach and fighting back a few tears. See I'm not your usual person.. I would live in one house my entire life and build as many memories as I possibly could! I look back at my childhood and we lived in this tiny little house right on the edge of town and I grew up there. I think we lived in that house for like 13 years. It was my childhood. I still look back at that place and drive by when I'm in Corvallis and can feel the love and memories flood over me with so much emotion. The first time I moved out of my moms house, I moved in with my now husband, and we lived in that house for 8 years, then we moved here and have been here for almost 5 years!

Today all the memories have come flooding over me.

back to when we first moved and Ryder was only 6 months old! the thought of Averee wasn't even on the out skirts of our little minds! I remember when we brought Averee home from the hospital, both kids taking their first steps, both kids first Christmas's, you know all the little memories any mommy would think about as they were moving out of their home. Right?

Anyway I know it will be an emotional weekend for me, and I guess it really just hasn't hit because I have been to busy and stressed to have it sink in that we are actually moving!!

The new house is just going to bring a ton new memories, and the kids already hate leaving when we go out there. I can't wait to see them explore and see what adventures they come up with at the new house.

Let the next chapter begin!

tear. tear. sniff, sniff.

Growing up...

2011-03-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

where does the time go? I feel like it wasn't that long ago that I was in high school and hangin out in the parking lot with all my "redneck" friends and the big ol trucks. LOL I feel lucky I had a few great friends in High School.. Then I wonder what happened? It's funny how life changes and people change.

When I was 17 I meet one of my best friends! We were from two different towns and COMPLETE opposites! We both worked at a little drive thru coffee shop and I still remember thinking wow she is way to girly, but it was one of those relationships that we just clicked and had the best friendship since. I love her to pieces and don't know what I would do without her in my life! She was there when I first meet Justin, my wedding, the birth of Ryder, and everything else. for a while she was down in California and we would go months without talking, but it's one of those friendships that no matter how much time has gone by, we can pick up like it was just yesterday.

That little coffee shop brought me not one but 3 of my closest friends! I feel so lucky to have worked there and have these girls in my life! I love them all and talk with them all almost daily. talk about all being from different walks of life, yet you put us all in the same room and we could chat it up ALL night! Now times have changed and it just might be a quick text or IM (Krystle I would die without our IMing everyday!! Love you and miss you tons!) but either way we all still know whats going on and are here for each other anytime day or night.

High school seems like it was just a growing experience for me. I was so determined to be "different" then everyone else I never actually focused on myself and figured out who I really was. Maybe that is one of the reasons I really don't have to many or any actual "close" friends from high school? I meet some great people in high school and still talk to them via FB or email, but I have to say I meet the people I want to be in my life and my kids lives in my mid 20's. Is that strange? I feel like I know so many people from high school who still are super close friends. LOL I don't have one person from high school who I still "hang out" with or consider one of my "besties" or even talk to monthly! I do feel lucky in some ways that I don't have any of that "drama" that could come up anytime from the past. haha

Then we move on to beauty school... I know who the heck would I want to be friends with in beauty school!? right???

My MOLLY!!!

Talk about a friend that would be there through thick and thin, no matter what part of the country she lives in! I hate to say it, but it's been way to many years that we haven't actually seen each other, but we talk every other day, if not daily. :)

There is really no reason I'm writing about these wonderful girls, I just have had an evening of talking with them ALL and feel so lucky to have them in my life. Some people want to be life of the party (me 15 years ago) and friends with everyone. But I have learned just a few GREAT, WONDERFUL, AMAZING women in my life work best and perfect for me!!

Thank you my BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL friends!

Guess I was feeling like I needed to give a little shout out to my great girlfriends!

My life would be crazy without you all and I don't know how I would get through all these crazy days in my life without you guys!

Thanks for everything you do for me.

A new little treasure.

2011-03-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

Today we went on a little treasure hunt at the good'ol Goodwill and

THIS

is what we found!

I'm in love....

Picture Perfect Monday

2011-03-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

it's exhausting to be "mad at mommy"

2011-03-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

my daughter threw the BIGGEST fit I have ever seen or heard come out of her in her short little 3 years of life today.

Then end result from a screaming, crying fit that lasted about 45 minutes total.

sound asleep with her face buried in her "ceecee"

after she woke up we were driving in the car and she said "I not crying anymore", I told her I was happy and it makes me sad to see her crying like that and not happy. Her response.

"I crying, cause I mad at you mommy"

(but then in the same sentence, she informed me she wasn't mad at me anymore)

REALLY! Your 3, you don't know when your mad at mommy!!!

New House

2011-03-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

Here it is! The new home of the Kingsbury's.

It's not the bran new but has some great corks, and great character!

AND

it sits on 5 acres and has great views!

The cute little kitchen

My wall of windows in the living room

Looking one way in the living room

and the other way

Master bedroom

and my french doors in to my master bedroom.

well well what did we find here?

2011-03-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

Today was operation clean and pack up kitchen as best I could, leaving what we still use daily.

AND

I came across this "special" little mason jar in one of the cupboards.

hmmmmmm

Where'd you get this little bottle of moonshine from babe?

doesn't look like anything I'm brave enough to try!

LOL

I WANT THIS HAIR!!

2011-03-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

my friend posted this picture in her Friday Favs, and I can't tell you how many times I have gone back to just stare at it! I WANT THIS HAIR!!!

Love Love Love the cut and the color!

Oh Caylen..... ;)

Picture Perfect Monday

2011-03-07T08:12:00.000-08:00

Sand, Sun, and Relaxing

Exactly what I'm dreaming about right now

Mondays have now got even better!

2011-02-28T20:41:00.000-08:00

not only is one of Justin and I's favorite shows on

(How I Meet Your Mother)

but they have now added this fabulous little show called

Mad Love

one of MY new favorites!

when stressed I...

2011-02-28T20:11:00.000-08:00

rearrange furniture & everything that can be rearranged, decorate, sand furniture, paint, shop all the thrift stores, and redo my blog.

Anything creative!

is this strange for a stress reliever?

LOL

exactly what I needed!

2011-02-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

My day started by making my list of things to do that is seriously a mile long! Between moving, a HUGE deal I'm running for work, my birthday, Averee's birthday, and all the other stuff that is going on right now I was feeling way over whelmed this morning and wishing the month of March would already be over with, when it hasn't even started yet...

Then I went and checked my mail

and found this

My wonderful beautiful friend in Colorado sent me a little birthday goodness!

I love you so much Molly, and wish we were closer to celebrate together!

Miss you SO SO MUCH!

Thanks for the smile it brought to my face, you don't know how much I truly needed it.

(sadly the horrible friend I am I have a whole pile of stuff sitting here to send to you! Seriously I'm such a bad friend.. I'm not taking it with me to the new house so you will get it with in the next 2 weeks!! LOL)

Promise!

Photo of the Day!

2011-02-21T11:22:00.000-08:00

New little feature.

Every Monday I will post a Photo of the Day

(Thanks for the wonderful idea Molly!!)

made me smile yesterday as we were leaving my nephews basketball game and we drove past this!

2011-02-15T09:07:00.000-08:00

As much as I was dreading the idea of more snow this week. When we woke up this morning to find 10-12 inches outside I did get a little excited over it! It's just so pretty how can you not?

Although it's not our usual snow... It's wet and heavy! We already have tons of branches down, just this morning our power has gone out 3 times, and from what I hear in Bend 2300 people are out of power!

Should be a few interesting days coming this week, our forecast is rain/snow/wind ALL week!

Guess I need to just suck it up and enjoy it cause summer weather will be here before we know it! ;)

Who needs flowers on Valentines Day?

2011-02-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

When you can get the BEST PRESENT EVER!!!

Thanks Babe!

Prepare for battle when you get home from work ;)

When life gives you lemons.....

2011-02-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

They say.... make lemonade! Really....

I guess this is after you cry, stress, freak out, and all of the above! haha.

Monday afternoon I went to check the mail, and while flipping through to see if there was anything good, I came across a letter from our property management so I opened it, thinking it was probably just a little winter newsletter? to my shock it was a letter stating our house was up for sale and has already been listed! Now in the letter it stated the real estate agent would like to have us contact her so she could come in take pictures and put a lock box on the door.
I know this is something that they have to do to do, to show the house. But this is not sitting well with me to have strangers come in to look at the house with all my stuff in it, and all of you mommies out there know what a pain in the ass it would be to always have my house spotless and then trying to go entertain the kids and dogs while they are here. This just isn't going to work for me.
So after Justin got home that night we sat down and decided we would try to move asap. I started the search for a house on Tuesday. I have found a few but a lot of the houses out there have tiny or no yards or the house is WAY smaller then the one we are in for the same price! So discouraging!

On to the next part of the story.
Ok so Tuesday afternoon I got a knock at the door it's the owner of the Property Management and she was here randomly cause they had to come in and put up a carbon monoxide detector.. anyways, We got to talking about the letter and what our next step is going to be. She was sweet enough to say she wants to just move us to another house. That is great but we are thinking we would like to head more out of town with a little property if possible, so we would just have to see what comes up. Then when I told her we didn't want to deal with the real estate agent coming in and out she said "well let me call your owner and talk to him, cause if he knows your going to move out he may decide to put his other house up for sale instead of this one, since you guys have been such great renters"
Really??
Did they really just expect us to stay here until the house sold?!!!!

I appreciate the gesture but I think we will still be looking for a new home! If he has decided to put it up once it's just a matter of time before it goes up again!
I have no hard feelings, I don't know why he has to put them up for sale or if he just wants to get out of it? It goes with renting. But it has sent panic through out my house this week! LOL What ever happens is whats meant to be. We will look at every option and do what's best for our little family. :)

With that said, this brings me to the next part.
On Tuesday I had posted an add on Craigslist, stating what kind of house we were looking for, and what has happened. Well I got an email from a lady that night about a house they haven't even put on the market yet and she stated she came across my add and thought she would send the info my way. We exchanged a few emails that night I got the address and decided I would drive by it the next morning to see if it's something we would like to make an appointment to look at the inside this weekend when they were there. Here was the catch to this house. It's in Crooked River Ranch. Now depending on where in CRR it sits it could be just an extra 10 min drive or an extra 40 minutes. Justin does a lot of work out there and knew approximately where it was at and thought it wasn't to far in to CRR. Wednesday morning Averee and I dropped Ryder off at school, stopped at Dutch Bros and headed out to find this house. I took us 12 mins to get there! Not bad at all!!! I fell in love with the character of this house. It sits on 5 acres, it's a 3 bed 2 bath, split level house. has a garage and storage shed, and the views are AMAZING!!! Best part about it... It's cheaper a month then what we pay, and could be some thing we could turn in to a rent to own if we wanted to down the road! Saturday we go look at the inside of the house and check it all out. Hopefully this falls in to the "meant to be" category and we have a new place to move to!

I'll keep everyone posted on what happens. This week has flown by and now I start my week at work today. Where does the time go? haha

A little chilly, but so worth the hike!

2011-02-02T16:15:00.000-08:00

Even though the temp was only a high of 35 today, the sun was out and we meet up with the kids Uncle Derek, Aunt Katie, and cousin Hailey and headed up to Smith Rock for a hike around the beautiful surroundings! It was a little chilly in the shaded parts but over all the kids, puppy and just breathing that fresh air was exactly what we all needed! The kids played around and found tons of "caves" to crawl in, got a kick out of all the rock climbers up there, and Lucy discovered the water and the ducks! Just cause the water was probably 3 degrees it didn't stop her from having a hay day in the water. :)

Overall a wonderful way to spend the afternoon!!

How did this happen?

2011-02-01T12:36:00.000-08:00

The time has come and both my kids are getting signed up for school! How in the world did this happen so quickly? Ryder is off to "real" school, crossing my fingers I can get him in to a morning class but if not then that just means we will get a little extra "us" time when Averee is in class. :) He is SO excited to be going to a big school! I pulled up his school online to see when Kindergarten registration is and showed him some pictures of what it all looks like and his eyes got huge and the smile was bigger then his whole face! haha I love that I have nothing to worry about with him. He will fit in wonderfully no matter where he goes and makes friends the minute he walks in to a room! I think the most exciting part for him is he gets to ride the bus home from school. I'm not ready for him to be on the bus with all the older kids so for now he will only be riding it home from school. ;)

Then we move on to my youngest... Is she really going to be in preschool already!?

I'm a little torn with her cause I love the fact that if I put her in Ryder's school he's in now then she goes in knowing the teachers and is familiar with her surroundings, but on the flip side I don't know if that's where I want her to go? I would have loved Ryder to go to a non-church based preschool, but at the time I signed him up every where was full. Now I do love his school and he has LOVED his experience there but I'm thinking maybe doing some thing different with Averee. I'm looking in to a Coop Preschool for her. I called today and talked to them and they were so sweet on the phone and I'm very excited to go check it all out and see how Averee reacts to it. With Ryder I haven't really got the choice of going in and helping out in his classes, last year it was a little to much having a 1-2 year old and this year his teacher prefers not to have parents come in and help. With the Coop school I have to help out 12-14 times throughout the year. I love this!! With her being my last one I want to be the parent helper as much as I can!

So anyways that is where we are at right now. Both kids will be all signed up and ready to go for next year by the beginning of April! they grow so fast I can't believe it!!

what a beautiful day!

2011-01-27T19:05:00.000-08:00

today was so gorgeous! I am so ready for spring and this just made it worse. It was 60 and sunny all day, so we headed to Bend and I dropped the kids off at my brothers, headed to my sisters picked her up and we went on a little hike around the Deschutes river in Old Mill district. They have a trail that wraps around the river and it ends up being a 5 mile walk/hike. It's beautiful and hoppin with people. I love it! After our great little workout, we picked the kids up had lunch in Old Mill, and then did a little shopping for some new shades. :) got home and was very excited when Justin pulled up right after me! This meant I got to go for a run! Lucy and I headed down tot he canyon and got in a 2 mile run! Oh how today was so perfect.. I'm ready for spring!!!!!

Along the river

Ryder rockin his new aviators!

Averee picked some purple with rhinestones. Surprise surprise. LOL

just another day....

2011-01-23T19:28:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning..

Showered the day before, of course I had a great hair day cause I was home all day in my sweats with the kids, wake up Saturday morning go to do my hair, I have one little spot in the middle of my bangs that has decided to curl and split right down the middle. Pull the bangs back, get my coffee, grab my bags and head out the door for my 8:30am appointment. Pull out the drive way get to the stop sign, and... forgot my appointment book, drove around the block, ran in and pull out for the second time, get to the stop sign... Forgot my phone! Really? This is how my day is going to start? Come back get my phone and head out again, after wasting about 10 minutes just coming back to get what I forgot. FINALLY head out to the main road, and then.. hit ice. Yup it's totally icy and I'm sliding all over. Took my time getting to Bend, by the time I get there I have no time to swing in to the Beauty Supply, so I just head straight tot work. My first appointment is 15 mins late! and the Coffee pot broke! From that point on I was running behind for each appointment... I get to one appointment thankfully it's a friend, and I needed to run to the beauty supply to get some monomer, and she couldn't wait long enough for me to take 5 mins to run there and back so I had to let her leave without giving her, her fill. :( Then I got busy and missed the time slot I had set aside to go pick up some thing I bought on Craigslist. Then we had a color correction come in and WOW Caylen you did wonders on that poor girls hair, but what a process for us all in the Salon. haha Oh... and the poor new stylist, had a not so great first day, she fried this girls hair, after the client left (and she was pretty pleased with what it looked like in the end! So yay!! cause that is all that really matters) poor Sill was on the verge of tears! Finally at around 8:15 Caylen and I head to the gym to get our workout in. Unfortunately my key did not work, so I had to "sneak" in with Caylen (I trade with the owner so she now knows it's not working) anyway... we get in our workout, kicked our ass! go to leave (mind you it's about 9:15, 9:30) and I'm digging through my bag and I DON'T HAVE MY KEYS!! My phone and keys are locked in my car... Caylen being the wonderful friend she is drove me all the way to Redmond so I could get Justin's keys. On the way to Redmond we talked about how our legs were shaking so bad from the workout, freaked out over the moon and how HUGE it was, AND almost hit a cat! We get back on the road, head to the gym and about a block away we get stuck at a train...

This is what my day was yesterday..

I finally got home around 10, 10:30, ate a little something and went to bed. Happy to report today was a very boring day compared to yesterday! HAHA

the things that make me happy this week....

2011-01-21T10:15:00.000-08:00

1. One of my favorite coffee creamers now comes in a huge bottle!! (it's my guilty pleasure and will never go away..)

2. New crock pot recipes. Makes my life so much easier! I have tried a few new ones in the last couple weeks and they are hit or miss, but overall turn out pretty good.

3. My little girl and her own little style. She makes me smile each day with what she comes up with.

(this was taking Ryder to school, I let her wear it, and by the time we got home she was ready to change. And actually overall she has AMAZING style sense.... usually) LOL

4. DoLocalDeals

If you live in Bend or visit often check them out! They have some great deals. I love this site not only for the deals I get, but it has been a SAVIOR in my marketing for the salon!!

5. I end this with the count down to VALENTINES DAY!! I'm not all huge on the gushy love part of Valentines Day, BUT any day I get to put little baskets of fun creative things together for the special people in my life I jump on it!! I love these little holidays!!

(feeling a little cheesy for posting that... haha)

Party Time!!!

2011-01-16T19:55:00.000-08:00

Our Saturday morning starting with me heading off to work, pampering some ladies feet, and making their toes look pretty. Oh and a huge Starbucks! ;) After a couple hours at work I headed to my sisters to pick up my 2 nephews and niece ( she was in Portland all weekend with my other nephew for his basketball tourny) then we headed back to Redmond to make a couple more stops before finally making it home. We finally made it home around 12:45, and the party was supposed to start at 2! When we got home Justin was vacuuming and the kids were still running around in their jammies!! Yes... Panic mode hit!! I threw the kids in the shower, got them dressed picked up their rooms (for the second time that day, cause daddy had done it already!) shut my door to my room so no one could see the mess in there, did the dishes, and finished up setting up the table and goodies bags. People started to show up and the craziness began! We had so much fun. About 11 kids showed up and ran crazy throughout the whole house, while the parents chatted and watched the football game. I had a couple games planned and a table set up with coloring pages and crayons, the games never got played cause the kids were just having to much fun playing in the bedrooms and the coloring pages were a totally hit! Who knew something so little and cheap (printed the pages off of the computer, and bought the crayons at the dollar store) would be the hit of the party! The cake was a hit, Ryder had a twinkle in his eye as they all sang Happy Birthday to him then he blew the candles out and all the kids were ready to dig in! Then came the presents.. I think this is so hard at this age. All the kids want to play with all the new toys and they don't really understand that they don't get to take their presents home that they got for the birthday kid. haha But all was good and everyone had a blast! Can't wait to see what next years birthday will hold!

After the party we ended our night with Uncle Derek and Aunt Katie hangin out watching the football game and eating Chinese food. It really was a great day!

(unfortunately I forgot to grab my sisters camera, so these are the few pictures I got with my phone :( )

I so badly wish I could have found some How to Train Your Dragon decorations, but none!! anywhere!! So we had to make do with what we could find (luckily we found the party hats at Goodwill!! lol)

Averee hangin with daddy watching football.

My party girl!

The cake! Everything homemade, but the dragons.

The mountain with all it's little details, was by far my favorite part of the cake!

And the Birthday Boy!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Ryder!!

We all love you so much!

Cakes, Decorating, & one happy little boy!

2011-01-14T21:59:00.000-08:00

Day two started with us waking up late and trying to scramble around to get Ryder to school. I told Averee to go get ready and this is what she came out in.. SO this is what she went in , and she loved the attention she got from it. LOL

While we were out, we did all of our errands and paid some bills, got home around 9:30 and began our adventure in to the decorating of the house and cake!

After a quick trip to Dutch Bros, Averee and I made the frosting a yummy buttercream recipe I have made up through hours of messing around with different recipes. Decided on the colors (hoping people don't mind the staining of the teeth! haha) I knew I wanted a little corner to look like water and then the rest needed to look like a rocky dirt color beach. If you have ever seen the movie I'm trying to go off of the part of them heading in to the mountain that the dragons live in. Anyway I decided to go with different shades of grays. Unfortunately it turned out more of a dark purple... but you can't really tell so I'm not to concerned about it. ;)

got it all frosted....

Next came the part I was not so sure about. I had to make the mountain and pebbles, and making the fondant, that I have never made before! I was just really hoping it all turned out. The fondant turned out SO good! It's so expensive and I have to say it only costs me a couple bucks and was so much more tasty!! We got the mountain made (we made it out of rice crispy treats) and then covered it with the fondant. Made our own rocks and moss and I have to say it turned out so much cuter then I thought it was going to be! not a ton to it but it's perfect! AND every piece of the cake is homemade!! The picture really doesn't do it Justis!! I will have better pictures tomorrow.. I don't actually own a camera right now (new one being purchased for my birthday, a canon rebel! I'm way excited!!!) but my wonderful sister is letting me borrow her camera for the party, so I hope to get some great pictures!

By late afternoon I had the decorations up around the house, all cake stuff done and I was heading to Bend to drop the kids off at my brothers and head in to work. Got home around 8:30, kids off to bed, me on here and really thinking I need to head to bed, cause tomorrow I have to be at work by 9, home by noon and ready for the party to start at 2!!

My day of preparing "1"

2011-01-13T17:32:00.000-08:00

How my day started... Instead of just doing a "normal" deep clean, I had the brilliant idea I needed to switch up somethings in my Kitchen! So out came all my pots and pans (they are to the right, not in the picture) and all my baking/Tupperware! The kids found some pretty awesome "spaceships" among all this clutter.

I discovered how many cake pans I have accumulated in the last, oh about 6 months!

It truly has become a passion... haha

among all this clutter and messiness I did actually get cleaning done and the house looks Fantastic! I had dinner in the crock pot, and the kids occupied with toys, or movies, and I got a ton done today!

Cleaning- check

(kids rooms to be cleaned right before party, it would just be a waste of my time if I did it now.. LOL)

Laundry- check

Dinner- check

and the most important...

the cake is out of the oven and cooling...

(have decided last minute to just do a sheet cake for the bottom of my vision instead of a layered cake)

another year older!

2011-01-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

Yup that's right.. My sweet little Ry guy turned 5 this past Monday! It's still crazy and I really don't know how this happened? I mean really.. wasn't he just 2? I remember the hospital trip and the crazy snowy mountain that my sister drove over just to "try" and be there in time to meet her new little nephew (and she did make it by about 15 minutes!) haha. Then he turned one, that year was a big year for us moving over the mountain and all, and 2 just snuck right up on us, with a baby sister that came to rock our world that year! Then we hit 3, he started preschool and became our "big" boy.. 4 came and went so fast I'm scrabbling to remember what all has gone on this past year with him, lets see... He started playing sports, video games,got his first BB gun, and Kung Fu! wow talk about him getting older.. Now he is 5!! I'm super excited about it, but super sad. What will this year hold for us? He gets to start T-Ball this year and he can't wait! and we are going to see how he takes to wrestling, again this is some thing he is so excited about, and he wants to learn how to snow board. Next year he goes in to "real" school! What? Seriously! Oh the joys of watching our kids grow up each and every day.. I truly love it...

Monday he got to bring cupcakes in to his class for everyone and handed out his "How To Train Your Dragon" invites for his big friend birthday party this Saturday. That night we headed out to the one place he really wanted to go to dinner (for the soul reason they would sing Happy Birthday to him) at Red Robin. My sister and her kids meet us there and we had a great dinner and the boys watched the game. Tomorrow marks the first day of preparing for the big party on Saturday! It's cleaning and baking day! Oh joy.. lol I'm excited about the baking but could do with out the cleaning. I'm making a homemade cake with homemade frosting and fondant. I usually buy fondant, but I'm really not a fan of the taste so I decided to get a little crazy and make my own this time around! I'm way excited about his cake and hoping it turns out cool! Should be pretty easy? Just a flat cake that will be made out to look like a rocky beachy area, then a big mountain on top of the cake (this is where the dragons live) and we will have dragons on the mountain and the vikings shooting them down on the other side with their sling shot thingy. Wish me luck!!

I'll keep a daily blog for the next few days! I'm going to need to see progress I think cause I'm going to be exhausted come Monday! Did I mention that on top of the party I'm working all weekend!

A few of my favs from 2010!

2011-01-01T10:09:00.001-08:00

Happy 2011!!

2011-01-01T09:24:00.000-08:00

A new year is beginning... Can't believe it! We rang in the New Year home with the kiddos, like we do every year. :) I won't complain cause I'm not a fan of drunks and crazy drivers, so I enjoy staying home. Our night consisted of eating good foods, and playing Dino Monopoly, Candy land, and the wii. I made it to about 11:20 and then crashed, do I have to mention that my 5 year old made it until about the same time as me!

Well here's to a New Year and I know it's going to be a WONDERFUL year!

A few "goals" (not resolutions) I setting for myself:

Walk Lucy daily

Drop the last few (25) pounds I have to lose

Run a half marathon

See my Colorado friends at least one time this year!

I'm sure there are more, actually I know there is but for the moment these are the good ones to list.

Good luck everyone with any "goals" or "resolutions" you set for yourself!

Starting the New Year off with Pictures!

2010-12-30T19:25:00.000-08:00

New pictures of the kids!

It has begun...

2010-12-30T17:55:00.000-08:00

It has been a long couple weeks, preparing for Christmas, company, and all the craziness that comes with it! Ryder has been out of school for a week and half now and it feels like forever! haha Yesterday my brother got Hailey for the holidays, so today we adventured out to see the new Disney movie "Tangled". Ryder does great at movie theaters, but Averee is still a little young and we pick our seats wisely to make sure she can get up and move without interrupting anyone. ;) I have to admit I really had no desire to see this movie, it just hasn't caught my attention like a lot of Disney movies, but for the kids I went. And so happy I did!! Ryder got a little bored but over all thought the horse was hilarious and thought it was pretty cool that the "prince" in it was called Ryder! Averee blew me away. She sat pretty much through the entire movie and LOVED it! It is her first official "Disney Princess" movie! Since we got home she has found her new Tiara she got for Christmas and has been prancing around with it on singing and dancing and in her own little world. Warms my heart, I love that girl to pieces! She is so stinkin cute and growing up more and more each day.

Highly recommend this movie!! Super cute!

P.S. Christmas blog still to come, just waiting on some pictures

Count down to Christmas!

2010-12-20T09:24:00.000-08:00

Can't believe Christmas is this weekend!

Time has flown by this year. I'm still trying to go back and remember what all has happened this year and where the time has gone? I am going to have a 5 year old in 2 weeks!! What?! When did that happen? Oh well can't dwell on that need to focus on whats coming up in 5 days!

This year has been a tearful wonderful year. We have hit some rough patches, but seem to always pull out of it some way or another. I truly don't know what I would do without my husband! He is amazing and the rock of our family.

I have been so busy at work the last couple weeks I haven't even had time to catch my breath. I am still running around and trying to figure out what I need to get for Christmas! Last weekend I worked a half day on Saturday so I could try and finish up my shopping. It's really hard when you have your kids with you ALL the time... 2 weeks ago Justin left for the weekend to go hunting, so really this weekend was my only time to get away and get things done. I toughed it out, and let me tell you I don't know what was worse, this crazy winter weather we are having or trying to find a parking spot and not just ramming all the idiots out there!

This year has been fun other then the minor set backs ;) My kids are at such fun ages to shop for. We have taken a different approach to what we are getting them this year. I have gone cheap!!! haha.. I have bought only sale items or Craigslist! Let me tell you, you find some AMAZING deals if you take the time to search! The kids big Santa Gifts this year are exciting for me, Ryder is getting a new scooter with helmet, and Justin is making Averee a Doll House! When I was a little girl, my grandpa made my sister and I a doll house and it was the BEST thing ever! I'm so excited for her!! And I found a spectacular deal on a GPS unit for Justin! He is going to be so surprised, as we don't usually do presents for each other and only stockings.

It has taken a few nights of tears, and a lot of deep breathing with all the stress we have had come with this wonderful time of year. But it hit me at some point, that no matter how much or how little my kids have this year I have AMAZING kids that will be thrilled with anything that is under that tree and I have family that is so wonderful and stands by us and helps as much as they can! I don't know what I would do without their Aunt Karri, Uncle Derek, and Aunt Katie babysitting for me wh

Saved

en I have had to go in to work just about everyday! I can't wait for Christmas day when my mom arrives and we all get to spend that special holiday together, like it should be!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Here's to a white Christmas! (I know we will be having one!!)

Ryder's Recital

2010-12-16T14:08:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we all need....

2010-12-06T11:01:00.000-08:00

a really good cry! Or maybe a whole weekend? ;)

Thank you so much to the most wonderful friends in the world to let me cry and vent, oh and a WONDERFUL husband who puts up with all my crying and emotions. hehe

Tis the Season... and the weather!

2010-12-04T19:38:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving has come and gone already.. Really!? Where in the world did the month of November go? We had huge plans for Thanksgiving this year. Family coming for over the mountain and all the way up on the other side of Washington. But mother nature had other plans for us all... In the end no body from out of town could make it, and my sweet friend who decided to try and make it back home (to the valley) ended up turning around half way over the mountain cause is was so bad. It took her 8 hours just to get half way there and back to Bend! Needless to say it was a small thanksgiving but we were all grateful for everyone staying safe and staying home.

My sister and I headed out on Black Friday and it was an early start this year. We meet at Target around 3:45am for the doors to open at 4. I got there a little earlier and decided I better hop in line considering it was already wrapped around the building! We didn't even get what we wanted, but it's not all about the shopping, more of the excitement of it all and coffee and breakfast with my sister and NO KIDS ;) We ended the weekend with decorating the house for Christmas and going to see the Eagle Crest light show. It was a great relaxing weekend.

And here we go in to the busiest most stressful and yet one of my favorite months!! Why do I love this month so much? It's crazy busy I stress to the max and they load the tv with any and everything kid friendly, so your kids come ask for it over and over and over again!

This year maybe a little on the smaller side, but thankfully I have two wonderful kids that love and cherish anything they get! They truly make any holiday or any normal day a joy... No matter how stressed out I get and how frustrating life is, the smile they get on their face when the littlest thing happens or watching them get excited over the Christmas lights or should I say the "kissmass" lights (Averee). OH and how can we forget listening to the kids sing their little hearts out to Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas. Seriously the CUTEST thing I have ever heard!!

Well here's to another crazy Christmas Season! Enjoy it all!!!

Doing a little Cleansing...

2010-11-14T08:38:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks, my poor body has been going through it's ups and downs. I wish I wasn't having to do this, but have decided it's time. And I think the week before the biggest eating holiday will be a great time. :)

I can't seem to gain any energy, I can feel I have cysts back on my ovaries that want to rupture but have decided just to hang out an leave me in pain all day instead (I have had many rupture and it's so painful!) My skin is paying from all the stress, and hormones being out of whack, and the list seems to be going on and on! So I have decided a good whole body cleansing may be just want I need. Or at least I'm hoping it helps!

So tomorrow I start a 3 day juice cleanse. Did some research and this one seems to be a good and easy one to get through. We'll see! ;) I'm going to take it day by day and see how it goes. I would love to drop a few pounds off it, but ultimately I'm doing this to try and get my body back to basics. Wish me luck!

Pretty much sums up my life... haha

2010-11-10T12:41:00.000-08:00

Priceless! Got this in the mail from one of my bestie girl friends and it is so fitting!! LOL

I couldn't help it!!!

2010-11-09T10:14:00.001-08:00

I'm ready for Christmas music!!

(and so is my son, he was begging in the car yesterday to listen to Christmas music!! lol)

and it begins....

2010-11-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

And so we start the count down to the most anticipated day of the year! It started for me with a walk down the refrigerator isle and seeing those yummy yummy holiday creamers! I stock up this time of year and sip on my coffee ALL day long. Yum.... I'm love this time of year.

Next comes Thanksgiving. My personal favorite holiday of the year. Baking, baking, and more baking! Then we get to eat it! Family, friends, and food.. What more could any person ask for? This year we have some friends and extra family coming for Thanksgiving and I couldn't be more thrilled! I love sharing the holidays... We are very lucky to have family over here with us and we take advantage of that every year. The food is great, conversation is better and the laughs are priceless... Then we prepare for Friday! this year we have a little extra going on besides shopping on this special day. My twin nephews will be turning 9! I feel like they are pretty lucky having a birthday on black Friday! haha I can't wait to shop for them and everyone! Yup that's right, I'm the crazy person that gets up at 4 and heads out to hit up all the great prices! I have to admit I think I go just to see all the "massive" crazies out there. hehe... Well non the less that starts off the Christmas season and every day from there just seems to get busier and busier!
The weekend after Thanksgiving will be when we go on the great Christmas tree hunt. This is a little early for us this year but Justin will most likely be gone for most of December selling Christmas trees in California? This is still up in the air but hopefully we will know a for sure answer in the next couple weeks. So if he leaves, then that means lights, decorations, and tree all in the weekend after Thanksgiving! The kids are already going crazy for Christmas. This morning I was looking at different sites and starting my list for the kids and Ryder came over and now his list is a mile long! Lucky for him he has a birthday just 2 weeks after Christmas so I need the extra long list!

Well here's to a new Holiday Season!! Hope everyone enjoys every minute of it!
I know I will!

Halloween!

2010-11-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Halloween! Got all dressed up and headed to Old Mill for a little trick or treating then back to my sister's house for dinner and then out for the big trick or treating! We had a perfect neighborhood to head to (My nephew was at a Halloween party, so we just stayed around there to keep an "eye" on him haha) It was seriously like what you see in a movie! Perfect night now wind, not cold, kids running around every where, and all the houses decorated for the holiday! It was wonderful... Here are some pictures from that day. :)

The kiddos....

2010-11-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

We have been having lots going on around here! It's all been about the kiddos, but we have got lots of answers in the last couple weeks. :)

Averee: So last week we got a call the day before she went in for her hearing test and they had a cancellation at Early Intervention and could get her in last wed for her evaluation instead of waiting until December! So I made a couple calls and luckily got her in for her hearing test that day (Tuesday) they had to have it done before heading in to the evaluation. The hearing test was interesting. She did a bunch of beeping in her ear and then we heading in to a sound proof room and she had to listen to the head phones and she had to point to things in the room when the lady told her what to point at. She did great! and her hearing came out wonderful! No damage from last years messy ear infections! The next day we dropped Ryder off at school and headed to Early Intervention. My shy little daughter made right up to one of the ladies, they went and sat at a little table and started right in to the tests. They did anything from stacking, showing her pictures and her saying what they were, drawing (who knew my 2 year old daughter can draw a whole stick person and put hair on it!!) counting money and just on and on with the testing... It was really cool to see how much she really knew. They were blown away at the smarts my little non talker has in that head of hers! She got up to a 5 year old level with all the tests but speaking. The teacher said she really did feel like she could have even kept going, but a 5 year old level was plenty high enough considering she's 2! haha I was one proud mama!!! :) Her speaking was not as great, BUT they grade them on a 1-30 ranking, they offer help to kids that fall in between a 3-9 level, she was a 16. So not low enough she needs the extra help, but not necessarily on the high end. SO the ending result is she is doing great with EVERYTHING but her speaking but she is still learning with that. They said what we were actually thinking. She was so cloudy and clogged from always having ear infections last year that when she was supposed to be learning how to put sentences together she just could quite pick up on it all. I feel so bad for her, for missing all that... But we are doing what we can at home and I have started "home schooling" her to help get her fully prepared for school next year! She is going to be so ready and is starting to come out of her shell a little. ;) We have started going to the library every week for story time to help with that socialization, she loves it! OK I think that gets you up to date with little A!

Ryder: Where to begin with him... We have been struggling with what we are going to do with him! lol Not really.. :) He is doing great in school! His last report card was outstanding! He does need to learn how to take it down a notch, the boy can't sit still if his life depended on it! He has no patience when it comes to "concentrating" hmmmm who does that sound like!? He is way to much like his mama!! Unfortunately we have been throwing around the idea of pulling him from school, cause it's just getting a little spendy. I have gone back to work but until I build my clientele it's not like I have a set income monthly we can rely on, and going in to winter you never know what Justin's work is going to look like from day to day. So we sat down and were trying to figure out what we could down size on, and sadly it was only a couple things and it included Ryder's school.. :( This broke my heart, but I came to terms with it and was ok with the outcome. I made out a game plan for schooling him at home and it was looking like everything would work out in the long run. I called his school administrator on Monday to tell them we were going to pull him from school, and she offered to cut his tuition in half! This through my whole plan off!! haha I said I would talk to my husband about it and get back to her. They really are so nice and I love his school!! I was talking to my mom (like I do just about everyday :)) and his LOVING grandma, said "he's loves school and he needs to stay in school" so grandma is taking care of his tuition for the next few months. LOVE YOU SO MUCH MOM!! Ryder was so excited to head back to school today! Guess everything works out the way it's suppose too. :)

Pumpkin time again!

2010-10-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

Last week we got to go to the pumpkin patch twice! Once on the weekend with my brother and niece (this way we could go before she heads back to cali) and the last Friday with Ryder's class. The kids have so much fun out there and it's so beautiful!

trouble!

Ryder made a couple new buddies. :)

Averee's favorite part. The train!!

daddy's girl

how cute is that little toosh!

update... (I have fallin behind)

2010-10-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

I am so far behind when it has come to blogging! So I'm just going to give a quick rundown on whats been going on.

A couple weeks ago Averee had to go in to the doctor and ended up having her first bladder infection, due to how much bacteria was found they have been scared it has moved to her kidneys. They put her on a high dose of medicine ( a 10 day dose, instead of what they usually give a grown women which is 3-5 days of the same medicine!) The following weekend we had to head to Corvallis for work and the kids stayed with my mom while my sister and I headed out to shoot a wedding. It was a short trip to Corn Vally but it was fun. A beautiful wedding!! Anyways when I got home my mom had become concerned cause Averee had been complaining of her back all day. For a 2 year old it's not really a place they complain about. One thing came to my mind... Kidney infection. Sunday she woke up feeling good and didn't complain about it again until a whole week later! By this time she was on her last day of meds and we had to go back in for a pee test again anyway so I waited the extra day and then we went in. She passed with all bacteria gone, but they are still concerned about her kidneys so we were giving it one more week and I take her back in today for yet another pee test. Let me tell you it's tough getting a 2 year old to pee in a cup!! The last two days she has been having accidents again, so I'm thinking now that she has been off her meds for over a week her infection is coming back. Ugh... She is a child that never has accidents and that was how we figured out she had a bladder infection the first time. The fact that we have gone for a whole week with no accidents and then boom the last two days and there back! So I will keep you posted on what happens today. They said if she still have bacteria or signs of a kidney infection we head to the hospital for further tests.

So this isn't the only thing that has been going on with our little Averee. If anyone has been around her you have probably figured out she can't speak well at all. She can say individual words but putting any kind of sentences together it all turns in to jibber jabber. As my sister says, it's like she talks with out moving her tong. It's strange cause she can say all the syllables that are hard and the ones that most kids don't catch on too. And then you try and get her to say her L's or T's and nothin. We talked to her doctor and she was concerned after sitting with us for a while and listening to her (really I think a one year talks better then she does!) She did a hearing test on her, because of her past chronic ear infections, the poor girl fell short a little in the hearing department. So tomorrow I take her in to an Audiologist and she gets a full hearing test done and then she was referred out to an organization called Early Intervention and she will start speech classes in December. I'm so happy she is getting the help she needs! It may be that she was so cloudy last year during that key time in learning how to put all the sentences and words together, that we are just going to have to reteach all that? Who knows? We will know more about her hearing tomorrow and then her first evaluation is in December so we won't know anything until then for her actual speech. It's a long wait but I feel it's worth it! I want her going in to school next year at the level she needs to be at or even above!

So as you can see we have had a lot on our plate trying to deal with everything and making appointments. Its a little crazy on this side of the mountain sometimes!

We got our first snow fall yesterday! Yay! I'm so excited for snow this year! It's taken me 5 years but this year I'm ready for it. ;)

My master piece!!!

2010-10-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

It took a while and a little wine to get it all finished but over all it's was perfect and the cake was delish!

A Beautiful Beach Wedding!

2010-10-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

my Brothers and Sisters!

She's so Beautiful!!

The girls playing on the beach. This is pretty much what they did ALL day!

My beautiful niece!

The house we stayed at

My other little niece! So pretty!

My little Ry Guy.

Doing what I do best. :)

My handsome brother

My sweet little girl... She wanted to swing around like a monkey and play instead of walk down the isle.

Me and my padre

Katie and I. Will miss you tons when you move thousands of miles away from me!

The girls watching their aunt put her wedding dress on. :)

just a few of my favorite pictures from my sister's Beautiful beach wedding!

Fall Time!

2010-09-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

My favorite time of year. well usually.... This fall weather is really throwing my favorite time of year for a loop! One week it's raining and dipping down in the low 30's already and then the next week here we are at 90 during the day! I'm so ready for my cool crisp days, wearing jeans, boots and sweaters... awwww sounds so wonderful just thinking about it. Instead I sit here with all the doors open this morning trying to get the house cooled off before the heat sets in this afternoon. Blah...

We have been busy with school, and everyday life. Ryder has had a little trouble with this year, the teachers daughter is a kindergartner and she comes and hangs out in the class and then goes to afternoon kindergarten, well she wasn't letting Ryder play with any of the girls in his class. This turned in to a huge problem because his best little friend is one of the little girls in class. It got to the point he wasn't even wanting to go to school. A battle everyday. It broke my heart! He is the child that loves everyone, plays with anyone, and has NEVER had a problem with school! Since the very first day last year he would go in and say bye mom see you later, so you can see why this was breaking my heart... :( But we have had many heart to hearts and encouraging him to meet the other kids in class and play with them, and if he has any problems to talk to his teacher, and if it continued I would go in and talk to his teacher. Well yesterday he had a great day! So crossing our fingers this will all pass and all will be good now?

Averee has been Averee. :) she goes with the flow of it all and enjoys the ride. She loves her mommy and Averee time when Ryder is in school, could watch Carebears ALL day everyday, and loves to sing and dance all over the house. We have been working on her speech a lot. She seems to be getting better, the more we work with her. She's a little jabber mouth but, she just seems to be having some trouble with pronunciation. The doctor said she isn't to worried about it now but to work with her and if she still seems to be having problems after she turns 3 then we will look more in to getting her some "extra" help. I often wonder if it has anything to do with all her ear infections? Last year she had SO MANY... We did take her off all dairy, and this was the BEST thing anyone could have ever told me to do for her. I was a little sceptical at first but willing to try anything! I couldn't imagine going through another winter like last year! We were in the doctors office every 2-3 weeks... The first week of school both kids came down with a HORRIBLE cold. I thought for sure she was going to get an ear infection, there was no way she was going to not. that's how bad the cold was, and the poor girl has never not got an ear infection off a cold in the last year and half! Well to our surprise HER EARS STAYED AS CRYSTAL CLEAR AS THEY CAN!!! I think I could have jumped out of my seat with excitement when the doctor said this! So we continue with the no dairy and hope it keeps up through the winter. She doesn't seem to mind at all. The only thing I have really changed was her milk. I still let her have cheese, just in moderation, and yogurt. Over all she is a happy sassy little Missy.

Justin just got done with hunting. He got nothing, yet again this year... Work seems to be going good for now. He's working quit a bit, and has actually been working out of town. It's football season, so on the weekends if he's not hunting, or shooting, he's in front of the tv or computer with football or fantasy football. :)

I'm trucken along. I just went back to work at the salon and am loving it! It will be nice to get all settle in to my new room at the beginning of October, for now I'm living out of my nail station. :) I'm only working weekends and this seems to be working in my favor, cause not to many salons are open Saturdays and Sundays. Been trying to get back in to my running. I miss it tons, but with Justin's work schedule and then hunting on the weekends I haven't really been getting it in everyday like I would like. I feel like I don't have a ton going on in my little life yet we are always busy? Where and what is taking up all my time? haha

Well there you go a little update on what's going on in our neck of the woods.

Missing our time.

2010-09-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

Last month we headed in to good'ol Hunting Season, and everyone knows it's not my favorite time of year, but due to my summer of being gone ALL the time, I know Justin needs a little of his own time away too. It's the one time a year he looks so forward too. I could never take that away from him. Next week is the last week in this part of the season, and he is staying home with us, so that means last weekend when I was complaining about him being gone, it actually was the last weekend I was going to have to worry about it. :) This week he has been working out of town all week and well... he has been gone long enough. I'm really missing him! This week is full of things I want him home with me for! LIKE OUR 8TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! That was on Tuesday and yes I was the horrible wife that completely forgot about it that morning when he called (to my defense I had a sick kiddo,plus I have a cold, got no sleep and had my "sweet" niece running through my house also) I did eventually remember and I called him. Him and Dave got quit a good laugh out of it... Also this week is the premieres of the new season of all the shows we watch.( yup we're a TV family!) Now granted I do love having the TV to myself for most of the week like Tuesday with Biggest Loser, and last night Americas Next Top Model! but also last night all I wanted was him on the couch with me cracking up at Modern Family! We were texting back and forth and I was feeling a little silly laughing out loud all alone. Tonight is the Office, again going to be laughing alone... So sad...

I'm on the count down for him to get home! It's times like this makes me rethink how much I LOVE him and would never want to live my life with out him! It's been 8 wonderful years of marriage, but 13 years of being the best friend and best company I could ask for.. Love you babe and miss you tons!

(yes I know I'm being a little sappy, but in those 13 years, last month was the first time we have ever spent a week apart! I'm not used to it! I like having him around. Well you may want to write that down, who knows if that's what I will be saying next week! ;) haha)

five friday favs...

2010-09-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

1) Having the most amazing friends. I may not have tons and tons but the hand full of fabulous ones I do have I would take over a ton of half ass friends any day! I love each one of you dearly in your own special ways! I feel so lucky to have you in my life each and everyday!

2) Pumpkin Spice Lattes! To die for! I love them!

3) Football Season is upon us, and I'm the wife that is a sucker for fantasy football! Watch out boys, I'm coming for ya'll!

GO SAINTS!!!

GO BEAVERS!!

4) This week we have got to end our days with thunder and lightening storms. I love opening all the windows and doors and listening to them, and waking up the next day to the smell of the juniper from the rain.

5) taking my puppers to the dog park. I know this one sounds silly, but she gets so stinkin excited, it's so cute! Once we get in there she runs in circles as fast as she can and then hops around on her hind legs. She makes me laugh and brings a smile to my face every morning. Maybe that's why we go at the butt crack of dawn? It gives me a little morning sunshine. :)