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!

A miracle and blessing for our family!

I just found out the most AMAZING news tonight! My sister, Melissa, is pregnant!! YEAH! This will be baby #3 for her, she already has 2 boys, so she is hoping for a girl! This is such a blessing because just over a year ago my sister was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma cancer and we were not given good odds for her to live long. We never thought at the time of her diagnosis that a year later she would have clear scans and a baby on the way! What an amazing blessing. I am so happy for her and her hubby, Chris. I'll keep you all posted on whether its a boy or girl!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! First I'd like to say the weather here was AMAZING! It was about 60 degrees at 6pm and no one had to wear a coat all night! I don't ever remember having such beautiful weather on Halloween when I was a kid! Ashlee had a BLAST on her first trick-or-treating adventure. We went with her cousins Camden, Kira, MacKenzie, and Jacob, they were all so cute! In the beginning, I had to carry Ashlee quite a bit and she kept telling me she wanted to go home after every house. By the end, she got the hang of it and said "tik-teat" at the door and"more-more" after every house, carried her own bag, and wouldn't even hold my hand! Then we went up to the Haunted house were she ate some candy and played with her cousins. She didn't get to bed until around 10:30 and she wasn't fussy at all! We hope you all had as much fun this Halloween as we did!

Ashlee the pirate! Argh!

The whole gang, Ashlee, Kira, Kaylie, Camden, Brooklynn, Jacob and MacKenzie

Trick or Treat!!

Kira, MacKenzie and Ashlee...aren't they so cute?

Pumpkins, pumpkins oh my!

Today we had such a great family day! I just love Halloween and fall...there is so much to do! First, we went to Nick's nursery and picked out a pumpkin. They had a little straw maze, bouncy house, and lots of great places to take pictures. Then we went home and carved our pumpkins. Little did I know Dale is a pumpkin carvin master...look at his masterpiece! Ashlee did a great job "carving" hers with a pen, she really got into it. She loved watching us, but thought the insides were pretty icky (see picture below). Maybe next year she'll want to get her hands dirty!

Family photo op

What a princess
Say cheese!

This picture cracks me up!

Those are some HUGE pumpkins! Whatcha' doing dadda?
Oooh, gross!
Carving with her pen

Wow, check out Dale's creation! It looked soooo cool!