Bridal Shower!!

Saturday we celebrated Sabrina's upcoming wedding with a bridal shower!!  Despite a few setbacks, the day turned out perfectly!!

Friday morning when I looked out the window, I saw our builder unloading a trencher in our backyard!  We are doing some work around our house and apparently, Friday was the day to trench.....right through the backyard where the shower was to be!  I freaked out a lot little.  Scott assured me the builder would have it covered up by Saturday afternoon.  As you will see in the pictures, that didn't happen.  And so I took a deep breath and just pretended everything was fine.  And really, it was.

A special thank you to Beth, Jake's mom.  She came early and helped us set up!  She took all the pictures!!  She helped us clean up!!  Truly an angel and we are so thrilled to call her 'family'!!

Talisha holding her sweet little niece!

Getting decorations ready for the shower!!

So much fun!!

Sleeping babies!!  Aunt and niece!

The Bride!!

Perfect setting, perfect day!!

Mints!

 

 

Yummy food!

Frames for the photo booth!

Babies!

Olivia loved the shower!

Cute Vanessa and Myah were our Photographers at the photo booth!

So much good food!

So much laughing!!

We asked her questions about Jake. If she got it wrong, she had to put a piece of bubble gum in her mouth! I think she got that one right! 

And that one!

Oops, not that one.  Getting to be a mouthful! Hahaha...

One of Jake's grandmother's with Sabrina's grandma's!

The moms with the Bride!!

 

 

We had perfect weather, perfect setting, friends, family and amazing food!!  It really couldn't have been any better!  Ok, maybe if that trench was missing from out of the pics....but other than that! 

 

Less than two weeks until the Big day!!!!  

She's One!!!!!

Our little sweetheart turned one!!!!  Can you believe it???  How does the time go so quickly????  She is such a joy!  I can't even begin to tell you what a sweet baby she is!  Here are a couple of pics from her special day!!

Olivia uses her pointer fingers to feel/explore new things.  You can see in this picture that she is feeling her tutu with her finger....totally checking it out!

 She grabbed it with both hands and tried to get it to her mouth!!



She loved it!!!  In her mouth, in her hands....she just couldn't get enough!!

So cute!

 I love this one!!!  She totally stopped moving around to listen to what I was saying!  Her 'listening' face!

 



Aaaaaannnndd, back to laughing and giggling!!

Tutu back in the mouth!!!!  Hahaha....

 

This picture is from later in the evening when we were having her party!  She is totally asleep!  We couldn't get her to wake up for anything!!!  She even has a little bit of drool on her cute little chin!  We sang to her, helped her blow out her candle, helped open her presents.......nothing.  Stayed asleep!

 

Happy 1st Birthday Olivia!!!

We love you to the moon......and back!!!!

Treasures From Below The Ground!!

I love our property for many reasons.....but one of the best reasons is because of the treasures we find below the dirt!!!  Below the dirt?????  Yup, you read that right!  You see, the story goes that long ago....about 100+ years ago they destroyed an old hotel that used to be downtown.  When I say 'destroyed', I mean they totally destroyed everything in the hotel and brought it out to the country and dumped it.  They strung it along an area that includes our property!  Now some people might think that sounds terrible but really it's the coolest thing ever!

They must have separated the debris into like items.  The stuff we find on our property is all glass!  Now, that might not sound very exciting but we seriously find the coolest treasures!! Take a look at this little gem Scott found last night as he was working  on the sprinklers!!

It's a little jar with a tin lid!

When I opened it up, whatever was inside had turned to powder...or maybe it started that way....

 

 

With all the landscaping we have done around here, we have uncovered so much glass!!!  Most of it is broken pieces of bottles, china, etc., but we have also found some real treasures...like these:

This tiny little jar is my favorite!!!!

The tiny little lid was found separately but it fits so well on the bottle!  I put a pencil in the background so you could get an idea of the size!

 

This thing....not sure what it is....Scott said something about electricity.....it's adorable!

Some of the cool jars!

Another section of them!

I LOVE that blue one!!!! 

I love the colored ones!!

I started lining them on top of one of my cabinets in the kitchen so I could see them everyday!

 

 

 

We have a 5 gallon bucket full of bottles/jars that we have dug up that are just waiting to be cleaned and washed.  Most of the time they are full of dirt and take forever to get clean.  Someday my backyard will look like the movie, Holes!  Haha, I would love to dig up treasures but for now I am content to enjoy our landscaping! 

 





Engagement Pictures Are Back!!!!!

Sometimes I am not super patient......anyone who knows me, knows that when I decide to do something, I want to do it right then!!  For example: redecorating a room.  I make a decision of what I want and I go shopping.  I just want to have every bit of it completed that day.  I don't like to leave things half way done.  Haha....and so waiting for our wonderful photographers to finish editing the pictures felt like an eternity!!!  Reality was, they were super fast and turned out exactly the way Sabrina (and me) had envisioned them!!!!  Yay!!!!!!

Sooooo, without further adieu......

I LOVE this one!!!!

I really LOVE this one.....

Totally Love!!!

Adorable!!!

One of my favorites!!

Totally Love!!!  And yes, he is tall!  ;)

Love!

Adorable!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!

Totally LOVE!!!!

 

 

They had to choose from over 100 photos, which ones to use for their engagement pictures....I'm so glad that it was not up to me!!!  I would still be sitting there, trying to whittle down my list! 

 

What I especially love about these pics are the props used in some of them.  For example, in the ones with them sitting with all the 'stuff', many of the items sitting around belonged to Sabrina's great grandmother!  In fact, the white sweater she is wearing is also hers!  I can remember my grandmother wearing it more than 40 years ago!  Sabrina loves anything vintage and that's the look she was wanting to portray in their pictures.  I think they pulled it off perfectly!!!  And a special 'thank you' to Jake for wearing the hat!!!  He wasn't sure about it but it made the pics perfect!!!!



Thoughts On A Monday

Spring time means "busy" at our house!  Taking care of the yard (almost 3 1/2 acres) after a long winter means there is a lot to do!  Spring means school is almost out and there are many end of the year projects due.  Spring means a wedding is just over a month away!!!

 Lacrosse is just finishing up for Thomas.  His team had a rough season this year.  They had trouble finding a coach so they ended up putting our local boys with boys from other towns.  In the middle of the season, we had a boy on his team, take his own life.  There are no words to describe the pain and heartache you feel as a parent when you hear something like that.  He was also in Thomas' class at school, so it was someone that he knew quite well.  That has been a very hard thing for Thomas to work through.  Years ago, when we lived in Oregon, a father took his two little children out for a walk and ended up shooting both of them and then himself.  The little boy was also in Thomas' class at the time.  Hard things for a child to understand and work through.  Losing his little brother a little over a year ago has weighed heavy on his heart as well.

As a child, I never knew anyone who died.  It wasn't until I was married and we were expecting our first child that Scott's grandmother passed away.  Now all of our grandparents have passed on but I was an adult when I first experienced death of a loved one.  These are hard times our children are facing.  The world is such a different place than it was.  More and more killings, school shootings, etc. are all things our children have to worry about on a daily basis.  We try to help them live without fear.  We do our best to talk with them and try and alleviate unnecessary worry.  It's tough. 

We have a couple of children who suffer with mental illness.  What a learning experience that has been!!  You never understand it, unless you live it 24/7.  My heart hurts for them and the trials that they go through.  How much easier their life would be if they suffered from a noticeable physical disability!!  People could see it and understand but when you look completely 'normal', it's hard for people to imagine what you are going through on a daily basis.  We sometimes wonder what our life would be like without the many challenges we experience as parents.  I definitely would not have the compassion and love that I do for those with mental illness.  The life lessons we have learned, helping care for someone with these challenges, are a blessing.  I tend to look at the world a lot different than I used to. 

Sorry, got a little off track there but just something I have been thinking about lately......

Levi and Tanner are wrapping up the track season!  It was the first year for both of them and they really enjoyed it!  Tanner is our long distance runner and Levi does sprints and relays.  They have both done very well and we are proud of them for trying something new!

Vanessa is involved in the RAD (race against drugs) program at the school.  The older kids have all had something similar in 6th grade but the program at this school is intense!!!  They have songs, skits and dances that they have been working on for several weeks/months(?)!!  We are excited to see the final performance at the end of May!!!

All the Little's are doing well!!  Life is pretty easy for them right now!  School, church, playing outside!!  I love looking out the window to the backyard and watching the 4 of them playing together!!!  They have some great adventures!!

Olivia is doing well!!!  She is 11 months!!!!  She has two teeth on the bottom and two teeth on the top!!  She is almost sitting!!!!  She is enjoying tummy time much more than in the past and she especially loves going outside!!!  She is full of giggles and smiles!!