Christmas parties

Oliver is making big improvements in his speech! I sure am proud of the little guy! In this picture he is in a pretty important conversation with Great Grandma Ardie!! This little guy is very expressive with his face and gestures, it's so cute!

Christmas is only a few days away, and I feel like I'm more excited to see the looks on my babies faces when they open their presents, than when it comes time for me to open mine! We had a very fun family Christmas party at Aunt Nancy's last weekend, and boy was it music to my ears hearing all the babies/kiddos in our family running all over the place with their imaginations running a muck! I was blessed to have grown up with my cousins, and it makes me happy to see a new generation of our family enjoying each other the way I did with my cousins at family events. Life goes by so fast, doesn't it??

Ava now has this new "mean face" she likes to give us, but what kills me is after she's given the "mean face" she waits a few seconds and can no longer be mean and gives us this really cute but funny smile, like she knows she was being naughty but at the same time knows she's too cute to be mad at!!!

I also get to take advantage of having one of my best friends, Ashley Richards-Evans, living right down the street from me! Little miss Ali Belle has grown quite comfortable with her "Annie" and can also say it too, just melts my heart! Sometimes we'll have play-dates where Blair brings Oliver and Ava over to hang out with Raquel and I at the Evans house. Joel, Ashley's husband, is an incredible guy, who really is active in these baby play-dates we have, whether he be break dancing with them to music, showing Oliver a killer golf swing, or just partaking in their little baby world!


Nichole is in town for Christmas break, she flew in from Bangkok this week! So happy we get to see her for a bit! Now if only we got to see all the other little rascal relatives I have living over there in Bangkok as well!

And for some big news....Eric bought a house!!! Blair, Eric, Oliver, and Ava are going to have so much fun putting their "home" together! They will have a backyard for the babies to run around in and a swing-set to play on! Plus they are in a pretty good location, and it helps that one of Blair's best friends lives right down the street! Yay!

My work Christmas party was awesome!!! For starters, the guys in the office rented out the top of the restraunt Bella Itallia, and we had a dinner, told a few stories....maybe I shared too many lol!!! And then we had the gift exchange! I brought a picture frame with a card, that when opened, revealed the true gift....a gift certificate to Castle!!! :) I had so much fun, and am so thankful that I work with such weird, yet great little weasels! haha! Seriously, I have found a great job and for the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm right where I am supposed to be in life.

I'm truly thankful to all of my friends and family, and am wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!! I'm soooooooooo looking forward to the wonderful things 2012 has to offer! Change can feel good sometimes, and I'm on the right track! Let's do this!
xoxo

The holidays are here again!!

The holidays are upon us again! Yay! ♥

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Mikie's this year, and it was quite delicious! Plus, I actually got all my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving, which is not like me! I must say I'm quite proud of my choices of gifts this year, which having a job had quite a lot to do with that! So thankful this year!

So things have been quite busy for me lately! I have my wonderful job, getting ready to get into the swing of things with classes at WSU Tri-Cities again, and spending time with my babies! Oliver and Ava spent the night with me last night, and talk about a fun time...those babies sure are entertaining! My mom bought them these little flashlights, Oliver's was in the theme of the movie "Cars" so it not only was a flashlight, but also made car sounds! And Ava's was a Tinkerbell flashlight! Right now, Oliver is going through a phase where he is a bit afraid of the dark, so getting those flashlights was a cool idea my mom had to make them feel a bit safer.

On Sunday, Blair heads up to Seattle to take little miss Ava to her doctors appointment at Seattle Children's Hospital, to do some tests on her to see why she is having the hair-loss and stuff. I know my baby girl is one tough cookie, and I am thankful for all my friends well wishes for her!

Can't wait for Dana, Joel, and baby Emma to get up here to Washington in January!! Woot woot!

Hope you all are staying warm and enjoying the Christmas season! ♥

Halloween!

Halloween with my babies! ♥

Uncle Pat visits from Thailand!

Uncle Pat is in town from Thailand, so we visited him at G-mas last night! Unfortunately Blair and I forgot to take an actual picture of him....but he did bring Oliver and Ava stuffed animal elephants and we were sure to get pictures of them with their new prized possessions! ♥

Oliver goes to his 1st movie!

Oliver was taken to his FIRST big screen movie at the movie theatre yesterday!!! He got to see the movie "Cars 2", since the movie "Cars" has been such a big hit at our house so far!! He wore his "Cars" outfit and a big smile on his face!

In the car, on the way to the movie!! Yay!!


In line with mama!!

Wow!!!!!! That's a big screen!!!

All tuckered out towars the end of the movie, sleeping on mama's lap! Such a cutie pie!!

And I wanted to share this great picture of my cousin Nichole! She has recently moved to Thailand and is teaching there! So proud of her and so happy she is on this adventure!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

LIVE ♥ LAUGH ♥ LOVE

It's finally been consistently sunny and warm here in the Tri-Cities! Although I love sunny days...over the years my taste for hot days has changed a bit. I am now more in the mood for a nice but cool day! :) Kind of like the weather you might see in Ireland or the U.K. :)

My cousin Mariah is currently in France, having visited Italy already, and soon she will be in Spain!! What a great experience she is having and I can't wait for a week from now to hear all about it!

Oliver and Ava are getting their pictures professionally done tonight by Ashley Bateman Photography! Of course, Oliver got his hair cut today and the lady cut too much off...oh well, he's still cute as can be and it will grow back haha, just not in time for pictures dang it!

I had an absolutely great 4th of July! Spent it with my Aunt Robin and Uncle Tommy. First we watched "The Bachelorette", our favorite show, then just put some chairs outside in the driveway and had the biggest show of fireworks I've ever seen! What a show!

My new summer read is "A Hopeless Romantic" by Harriet Evans! Just bought it, and I think this is how I will start off my weekend!

I just thought I'd share this adorable picture of baby Emma!! ♥


Hope you all have a great weekend!

LIVE ♥ LAUGH ♥ LOVE

Dana, Emma, and Joel come to town!

My cousin Dana and her family came to visit everyone last week! They live down in New Mexico, so it was so good to see them! We all can't wait to see them again when they visit us for a second time this summer!! Woot woot!! ♥

My cousin Mariah, who is pictured above playing in the sun with the babies, is on her way to Europe today!! I'm so excited for her and can't wait to hear all about it when she returns in three weeks!

Work is going well, I'm lucky to be working with and for such nice people, they have all been so helpful! As for the rest of the summer, I will be working and saving up money for next semester. But hopefully in the fall I will be able to take a few trips to visit some friends!

LIVE ♥ LAUGH ♥ LOVE

Swimming!!

It has finally gotten warm outside pretty consistently this week! So the babies got to go swimming at grandma Nancy's! Here's some pics!

Baby Natalia has arrived!!

This gorgeous girl is now my screen saver!! Natalia Rice is now here!! I'm so happy and proud of one of my best friends, Lyndsay! She will make a wonderful mother, and I can't wait to meet her sweet little girl!! Love you Lynds! ♥

Summer is around the corner!

Summer is almost here!! Yay! I'm done with the whole job search finally!! Woot woot! I got hired at a doctor's office over in Kennewick, and will be working part time while doing school still at WSU Tri-Cities! It seriously feels so good right now to be getting back into the groove of working and studying! I hope all of you are enjoying the sunshine and have a great week! Here are some new pics :)

Oliver and Ava playing in the sand!

Little miss Ali, Ashley's daughter! Check out those baby blues!

I don't have kids....but I sure do love this little rascal! This here is Chandler Bing helping me type!




My beautiful cousin Whitney with little Lola! :)

LIVE ♥ LAUGH ♥ LOVE

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend! The babies in our house sure did!! :)