Over the river and through the woods....

to mammy and papa's house we go! The day after Christmas we headed out to my parents house in KS. About 20 minutes outside of Topeka it started raining so hard we could barely see! Luckily, we didn't have much farther to go and arrived safely at my parents house. The next morning we woke up to the most beautiful site! The rain had frozen and everything was covered with a thin layer of ice! With the sun shining it looked like the trees were covered in diamonds! I tried to capture the beauty but this picture doesn't do it justice.

Our visit was 2 fold, to go to my cousin Matt's wedding and my uncle's funeral. The wedding was so beautiful (and BIG, I think there were around 250 people there!) but I couldn't help but think of my Uncle Fox who was not there. Matt's dad (Uncle Fox) died of cancer just 6 days before his wedding. We all knew he was watching, smiling, maybe even dancing, from above. We miss him already.

Dale in a suit and me in a dress? Take a look people because it doesn't happen often!

My princess all dressed up with everywhere to go!

Ashlee and Zach wrestled and rolled around on the floor most of the wedding reception. Oh, to be young again!

Now those are some good lookin' grandparents!

Ashlee and cousins Zach and Addison.

Ashlee trying on her new heels!

Dada and Ashlee checking out the cows at great grandpa and grandma's house.

So this is what Christmas is really about...

This year I realized that I have never REALLY, TRULY experienced Christmas before. I thought I had... all those years of receiving wonderful gifts, putting up decorations, baking cookies, driving around looking at lights, spending time with family, etc. Oh no, this year I realized that one does not truly enjoy Christmas until you see it through your child's eyes. See the smile their face as they watch the Christmas tree go up for the first time, cry when they are told to sit on Santa's lap, get dough all over their face as they "help" you bake Christmas cookies, and shout with glee as they unwrap their Christmas presents. Now THAT, is what Christmas is all about!

Just the 3 of us...

Cousins Kira, MacKenzie, Ashlee and Kaylie

Now that is one happy little girl!

Cousin Kaylie putting makeup on her, Ashlee LOVED it!

Ashlee with all her new baby doll "gear". It was a very baby/pony themed Christmas!

She's almost got the hang of her new tricycle...

Butterfly Pavillion

Today we visited the Butterfly Pavillion with our good friends Tyler, Austin and Carson (and their mom's of course)! The kids loved all the different bugs and beautiful butterflies, they even got to sit in on a "buggy" story time. They also enjoyed the fun activities at the end, mostly climbing on things! My friend Sarah (Austin and Carson's mom) got a new Nikon camera that takes WONDERFUL pictures. She provided the pictures you see on here...thanks Sarah (you can check out her photography blog on my favs)!

Sharing with dada

Ashlee and Dale having their nighttime cookie together!

ABCs

Ashlee saying her ABCs. I just love this video.

Here comes Santa Claus...

At least we thought Ashlee would get to visit with Santa today, but she had a different plan! These are the only pics I got of our Santa visit because she had no interest in getting near him! When Ashlee saw Santa, she looked at us and said "no"! Well, maybe next year!

Thankful for so much...

Dale, Ashlee and I drove out to Kansas to visit my family for Thanksgiving. We got lucky and missed the snow going both ways...phew! It was sooo nice to see everyone, all my aunts and uncles, grandparents, and my cousin Kevin came in from California (who we hadn't seen in 10 years)!! As usual I ate way too much (my sister made the most amazing home made apple pie), didn't exercise enough, and slept like a baby. Oh, and I didn't change a diaper for at least 2 days...thanks MOM, you rock!

This is only half my family out in KS!! Dale and my grandpa, aren't they cute?

Gramps and I

Mom and dad

Kevin showing off his new phone to Aunt Jean and my sis

Me and my sis

Papa reading to Ashlee and Zach

Aunt Lorie, Uncle Fox, Uncle Tigger and mom

My Favorite Things-2008 Edition

I was tagged by a high school friend (thanks again Roxanne) for this year's My Favorite Things. So here it goes, here are 20 of my favorite things for 2008!

1) Orowheat Oatnut bread-yum.

2) Kickboxing class- I am so happy to get back into this 1 year after my back surgery!

3) My Ipod Nano- Dale got it for me for Valentines day and I don't know what I would do without it.

4) The playground & zoo- having a 1 1/2 year old this summer made me discover the kid in me all over again!

5) My newly organized closet- I finally came to the realization that I will never be a size medium again and got rid of all my clothes that didn't fit. I can't tell you how depressing and liberating this was all at the same time!

6) The Biggest Loser & Entourage- I love these shows.

7) Our family blog- I just started it a few months ago and I am already so hooked.

8) Craigslist- I am a bargain hunter at heart and this website is like crack to me! :)

9) White House/Black Market jeans- they make jeans for WOMEN that look fantastic. (actually, all their clothes are gorgeous)!

10) Red wine (Malbec preferrably)- I really like to drink my wine...

11) Mary Kay mascara- this is the bomb.

12) Ralph Lauren Blue perfume- I have been wearing this for years and I still get compliments.

13) My new "darker" hair- I have been highlighting my hair blonde for years, and I loved it, but I was getting sick of the roots. Soo, no more roots!

14) Starbucks Chai Lattes- if I could I would have one every morning.

15) My book club- I love being a part of this wonderful group of girls.

16) Water for Elephants- my favorite book by far this year! A must read!

17) Fuzzy socks- so warm and comfy.

18) Comcast DVR- I never miss a show anymore!

19) A Fire in the fireplace- so romantic.

20) Our new camcorder- they've come a long way since we purchased our last one in 2006!

**Funny, that was harder than I thought!! Now, Sarah Guibord, TAG YOU'RE IT!!!

Currently lovin'...

I'm totally stealing this idea from a friend's blog (thanks Roxanne) because I thought it was such a neat idea.

*that Christmas is right around the corner!

*my comfy warm pants

*Dale being home more often..we've missed him during this last month!

*Ashlee changing more each and every day and being home to watch it

*eating a new recipe of cookie bars that I made tonight

*buying all the kiddos Christmas presents (I am DONE!)

*Chai Lattes from Starbucks, my guilty pleasure

*planning our trip to KS to see my family for Thanksgiving! I am so excited!

*reflecting on how lucky I am to have such wonderful friends and family in my life

Date night

Dale and I finally got a chance to go out just the 2 of us! Until we had Ashlee I never realized just how precious couple time really is. We took the opportunity to visit our favorite restaraunt, Morton's Steakhouse! YUM! All I have to say is Chocolate Godiva dessert....
This is a picture they took of us at the restaraunt. I had to scan it in so it doesn't look as nice if I was able to download it directly from my camera, but I still think its a nice picture of us. And since we rarely get pictures of just us I thought I'd put it on our blog to share with you all.

Day at the zoo

With this crazy warm weather we are having (70 degrees today) we decided to take a trip to the zoo! Here are some pics from our fun day.

Riding the carousel with mama, Ashlee picked out the tiger

Riding the train with dadda

That's our 4th family member, Fred the gorilla :)
I thought this was so cool, the gorillas are usually just chillin' in their exhibit. This time he was showing us just how BIG he is!

More leaf fun

Last week we had Tyler and Austin over for some play time. Of course that included running around in the HUGE piles of leaves in our front yard! I'd like to mention that I have raked 27 bags of leaves so far and am still NOT done!

Ashlee's first haircut!

I couldn't delay it any longer, it was time for Ashlee to get her first haircut! Dale and I were so impressed with how well she did, she sat very still and was quite serious about watching the lady in the mirror! When it was all done they styled her hair into cute little ponytails with ribbons and sprayed glitter hairspray in it! WOW! I've got to get me some of that!

Clowning around the house

I just had to put some new pics of Ashlee being her silly self on here. Its like she's " coming into her own" with her personality and she is a CARD! She loves making Dale and I laugh and being the center of our attention. She has also started "signing" to music now in the car and at home, its hilarious. Her hair is getting so long too, I think her first official haircut is not far off.

Ride 'em dadda!
She moved all her stuffed animals from her room into the hall!

Who's cute???? ASHLEE!

Ride 'em horsey!

Taking baby for a ride!