2013 look back!

Well, here I am, with a free second to get on here and catch up! One of my New Year's Resolutions (who keeps those anymore?) was to stay on top of my daily planner and keep everything in my life organized. So far, so good! Something I've been writing almost twice a week in my planner is to blog about our 2013 year! It's only been 45 days since the first of the year, I'm not too late right?! Wow, last year was really something for us! We had so much happen that's worth recognizing, this is going to be an awfully long post! To start off with, we got engaged!! January 21, 2013. Our engagement story is not too sappy, but perfect for who we are, Kameron is such a simple guy, and that's what I love about him!

How perfect is this ring?! He truly knows how to spoil me! Of course I said yes, and we are now patiently waiting for the big date! The very next day was our sweet Lacey's first birthday! How bittersweet it was to see our little girl growing up sooo fast! We had her birthday party at our house, and everyone in our family and some close friends came. I think there ended up being over 40 people in our small house! She was so spoiled and got tons of stuff, like so much stuff, we literally had to turn our spare bedroom into a playroom because we just simply didn't have enough room for all the toys she had accumulated. She still was not yet walking on her big day, but looking back now, I wish she still wasn't! lol. here's a few shots of her party!

She is quite the ham, is she not?! And look at that grumpy face in there, she looks like she's very tired of having her picture taken, haha. She is definitely her father's child. Just like him, and daddie's little princess. Gosh how we love her! Looking at these pictures, she already looks so different over such a short amount of time, granted, she still has chubby cheeks, but look at them! So freakin' adorable. The weekend after her birthday, we took a trip out to La Push and walked the beach and just got away for a while. Bailey was still such a puppy and we forgot her leash! So we wrapped a tie strap around her neck and called it good. 

It was so beautiful out there, I can't say it was very warm, but still amazingly beautiful. I think we sometimes take for granted how great this place we live in really is. After we hit the beach, we went into Forks and visited Forks Outfitters and daddy treated Lace and I to some new clothes, camo and all. 

We always stayed busy doing things throughout the house, around this time, I had quit my job working at a local bank, I just really wanted to spend all my time with this precious girl, and time truly does slip through your hands in the blink of an eye. She's only a child once, and I intend to be in her life as much as possible! Who needs money these days anyway? :) On March 2nd, 2013, our babygirl decided she was ready to walk! This literally brings tears to my eyes.

Once she decided she liked walking, there was no going back. She was constantly on the move! We couldn't believe we had a baby on the run all the time! We were in for it from there on out. Shortly after she started walking, we took a trip over to Toys R Us in Silverdale and got Lacey her first bike! She still to this day loves this thing.

We as parents totally love this thing too, Right now she is still in "trike and we push mode" but once her feet can reach the pedals, the parent handle comes off and she can race around on her own!Shortly after, it was Easter! This Easter meant a lot to me, it was our 'first' Easter as a family with Lacey. Her first actual Easter, I had spent with Kameron in Harborview Medical Center after his accident and Lacey spent the weekend with my mom. Thankfully, my mom was able to have her for that long, but it pains me to even think about being away from her for that long! So for her second but first 'family' Easter, we went all out. When she woke up that morning, the Easter bunny had visited our house and he was quite generous! 

Not long after that, I had my cosmetic surgery, April 11, 2013. Everything went super well, I just wasn't supposed to hold or lift anything for 4 weeks. I can't say I totally stuck to those restrictions, I had a 15 month old! My parents were so helpful throughout the whole process, they both pretty much lived with me for the first week and watched over Lacey and with each day I just felt better and better. Lacey was so amazing throughout the whole process, she must have sensed Mommy didn't "feel good" because she would just snuggle on the couch with me, watch movies and let me rest as I needed to. What more could I ask for?!

For some odd reason, her father let her have a chocolate sucker, but that's a different story. Our next fun outing was for Mother's Day! We went with two of our great friends, Michael and Chelsie, over to Seattle for the day and went to the Seattle Aquarium and the Woodland Park Zoo. I think this will become a Mother's Day tradition. We had so much fun, Lacey especially, but I couldn't have asked for a better day, I got to spend it with my family and there's nothing greater than that. 

She loved the bears, I think they were her favorite, that's what she's pointing to in the above picture. And of course, on her daddy's arm. Just a few weeks later, it was Memorial Day! We took a vacation with my dad over to Ephrata to visit my Aunt Deana and Uncle Rob. It was nice to just get out of town for a weekend! Lacey did not do well with the car ride, but were still working on that, and she lived. :) 

Isn't that place beautiful! The top picture is of Sun Lakes, which is north of Ephrata, we visited up there for a day and explored the area, quite a different atmosphere than home!We visited the airport and got to see all the show planes take off and land right in front of us, that was quite a show, and Lacey learned how to fish by her Daddy! All in all, it was a great weekend. In the beginning of June, Kameron and a few of his friends got this crazy idea to run down to Oregon 'real quick' and all buy UTV sidexsides. They came home with three brand spankin new Yamaha Rhino's and the fun began. We really have gotten so much use out of this sucker so far.

Lacey of course loves it too, she is such a little daredevil! Takes after her daddy. At the end of June, we visited nearby Port Townsend for a drive-in movie. We watched Fast 6, but I will say it probably was a little too young for Lace. She loved all the preliminary activities, like pop, popcorn, running around and us chasing her, but by the time the movie started, it was way too late for her and we ended up leaving in the middle of the movie. It was fun while it lasted though!

The very next day, we got our kitten! Lacey was just starting to have her obsession with animals and she was so in love. We had to bring my dad to the Seattle airport the very next morning and we didn't want to leave a tiny baby kitten alone with our young hound dog, sooo, we decided to just bring him with us for the ride! He rode in Lacey's carseat next to her leg and she was in heaven lol. 

So sweet! At least he was then, haha, a few weeks later, I and a few of my bridesmaids spent the weekend over in Seattle and visited the town of Snohomish for some wedding dress shopping! I had so much fun trying on different dresses and deciding what would be the perfect fit for our wedding!

I ended up choosing one of the dresses pictured above, but no one will know until the wedding! In the beginning of July, Kameron's job took him out of town for a few months, but he only had to work four days a week so we got to spend our three day weekends together. The time actually seemed to go by farely fast and before I knew it he was back working in town. Lacey and I surprised him down in Humptulips, we drove four hours and he had no idea we were coming! It was quite a drive but so worth it to stay with him! On the way home, we stopped at Kalaloch and got to enjoy the sunshine a bit.

In August, mom got married to a great guy, Ladel, and Lacey starred as flower girl! She did amazing and looked absolutely adorable as always! It was really a beautiful event and I am so happy for her. 

Summer came and went within the blink of an eye it seemed, and then it was the most important time of the year, hunting season of course! This is a really important time in our household, I can pretty much kiss my hubby goodbye, but of course, being the amazing girl I am, I LOVE to spend my time hunting with him! It gives us a chance to just get away from everyday life and really be with each other. It may be one of my favorite 'seasons' of the year.

Quite a few things happened for us in September, one of them being that we got our Engagement pictures taken! Here are a few of my favorite.

I just adore my family! Something else that was a big deal for September was...we put Lacey in a big girl bed! I will say, this was harder on us than her, she all the sudden had the ability to decide when she wanted to get up and it was not easy. Long story short, this only lasted about two days before I threw the crib back together. It was cute while it lasted, but emotionally she just wasn't ready.

How cute is she trying to screw the bolt in?! Haha. Next was Halloween! We had so much fun hanging up our pumpkin lights and decorating the house and of course trick-or-treating! We went downtown to all the businesses that celebrated with Rae Anne and Lacey's best friend Hadley. The girls were to die for.

Of course we visited the pumpkin patch as well earlier in the month, but that wasn't nearly as fun as receiving candy from every possible stranger! That's my sarcastic attitude coming into play lol. In the beginning of November, we made the decision that would completely alter at least the next ten years of our life! We put an offer in on a piece of property just on the outskirts of town. We are so fortunate for everything life has dealt us. 

Later in the month, it was of course Thanksgiving. Lacey just so happened to get totally sick so we weren't able to visit all of our usual rounds that were supposed to. We had a small dinner at our house with us, my dad and grandma and that was plenty! Lacey ended up being diagnosed with Fifth's disease and had a terrible rash all over her body, but thankfully, she is now immune and will never have it again with no lingering side affects!

After Thanksgiving, you know what that means! It's the most wonderful time of the year! This Christmas was one to remember, Lacey was so spoiled, as was I, and it was really just a great time with great family. We did catch a hint of snow towards the end of the month but nothing worth shouting about!

 

It was such a great holiday! We enjoyed the little snow that we got and had a half snow day but it left as fast as it arrived. We visited my mom's house for Christmas Eve and Lacey got tons of stuff there, we then came home and opened her stocking, and gave Bailey her presents. Kameron got me a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, but it's kinda a shared present because we use it equally :) I am beyond blessed. I have a healthy, happy family, I truly could not ask for more. This year was full of so much excitement and as sad as I am to see it go, I am so beyond excited for 2014! There is so much ahead of us in the upcoming year, some huge life changes! Building a house, getting married, Lacey is officially a toddler, so much! I love my family! Stay tuned!

XOXO

christmas is over!

Where did the time go?! It seems like I anticipated christmas forever and then it was over in the blink of an eye. Well, time to start planning for next year I guess ;). Lacey was such a hoot this christmas. She had sooo much fun unwrapping gifts and her new word is 'more' so everytime she got done with one gift, she was on to the next. Except for her amazing gift I talked about in my last post about the barn and horse stable. Santa brought these gifts so they were set up around the tree when she woke up. She didnt even care about her other gifts to unwrap at this point! It included, the doll house, barn, horse stable, a corral, tractor, cows, dogs, cats, horses a lamb and pig, pretty much everything you could think of! My dad mentioned something saying it probably would have been cheaper to just buy her a real homestead lol probably!

This is what it looked like before she woke up....

And this was the aftermath! That's what christmas is all about right? Making a mess!

This was her first reaction to the barn, 'lets just huuuuggg'

Opening the horse stable

These are too cool! A block set that makes a barn and chicken coop of course, from Melissa&Doug. If you haven't seen their line of toys, take a look! They have become my favorite for her, made of real wood, not plastic crap and their built to last! Melissa and Doug

 

Look at that cute little smile!

What's in there?!

We tried to fit everything in her room as well as we could, but she already has so much stuff! In our new home, she can have her own farm room :)

How lucky am I to have such an amazing christmas?! And my hubby decided to spoil me and surprise me with a new Samsung galaxy note! (Which I'm typing on now hehe) at first I considered bringing it back, I wasn't super into it but its totally growing on me. And with our up and coming move into a travel trailer on the in-laws property, I think I will be able to find plenty of things to do on it ;)

 Now that christmas is over and done with, it's time to start planning for the next holiday, and the next and the next. But the most important thing of all coming up is miss lacey's birthday! I can't beleive shes going to be two years old! Where does the time go?! I havent totally decided what were going to do for her birthday yet, of course last year for her first birthday, we had a big bash, but this year is a little different considering our moving situation, we have to be out of our house right around the same time of her birthday. Inviting people over to an empty house might not be so much fun lol. My thoughts lately have been to cruise over to Seattle for a little family day and maybe visit Build-a-Bear workshop and the aquarium or something,  I'm not sure yet. But just because kameron and I are going through a busy time doesn't mean she cant have a little Lacey day! He, of course, wont care either way what we do, Seattle is probably not on the top of his list, but hey, like I said its lacey's day! What are your thoughts on a two year olds birthday party? We're not even sure what we should get her yet! Oh the wonderful joys of parenthood :)

let it snow, let it snow!

This morning, while Kameron woke up for work, I woke up to see snow blanketing our back yard and I felt so excited I didn't even want to go back to sleep! I hardly ever wake up when he does, so he was like, "what the heck are you doing up right now?" lol. we rarely get to see the snow stick around here so I was excited, ok?! Of course right when Lacey woke up, we had a fast breakfast and headed outside. I'm not sure she has actually even been in the snow before? I mean, she saw it last year, but I doubt she still remembers it! Needless to say, she was pretty excited! When I told her there was snow outside, she was running in between all the windows in the house, making sure it wasn't going away. So cute! I stalled our dog Bailey from going out potty until we were ready to go out, she's only a year old so this is her first snow too! I wanted to see her reaction as well as Lacey's. And fun was had by all! Just wish Daddy was here to enjoy it with us, oh well, he'll be here this afternoon ;)

our back yard! as much as we hate those damn maple trees, they sure look pretty in this weather 

look at how cute her little boots are! 

looks like more snow is coming!

my little snow baby 

she wanted to eat it! lol guess I'll have to teach her about yellow snow

Hopefully the snow sticks around for at least a few days this time! I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

DIY christmas crafts!

This time of year always has me searching for cute, homey diy decor, but also easy and fast since I have a two year old to keep out of things. These are super simple, affordable, adorable crafts that I have around my house this year! If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I'd love to help!

The first one is so easy! A mason jar snow-globe. I used a Ball Mason jar, went to the dollar store and got the cute frosted trees, a bag of fake snow at Joann's and closed it with a scrap piece of burlap!

This fake christmas tree sits in our bay window for passer-bys to see. It's made out of a metal tomato cage, I bought a 15ft garland from walmart for ten bucks and started wrapping! I started at the top and worked my way down, it gets a little spacey or bunched up in some spots but once you get it all wrapped, you can slide it around to fill in spots or space it out. Then I just took a regular ole strand of clear lights, wrapped to my hearts desire and took a scrap piece of burlap and wrapped that around too as a garland and voila! So simple!

When we hung our stockings this year, we hung them below a giant mirror in my living room. It really looked plain and boring so I decided to whip up something that only ended up taking about 30 minutes! I cut out a piece of burlap (if you can't already tell, I'm obsessed with this stuff) into a pennant shape and then used that as my template for the others. Once I had them all cut, I just used regular craft paint in white and hand painted some letters on there. Waited about five minutes for them to dry and then threaded a piece of jute through each one and there you have it! Super simple fast projects that add a little something to your holiday decor'. Hope you enjoy! 

it's the most wonderful time of the year!

With Christmas around the corner, literally only six days away, what have you finished and still need to do? I think I can actually say I'm totally done shopping! Except for my dad of course, he's one of those people that already has everything he wants, and if he doesn't, he'll go out and get it himself. Just the other day, I asked him what he wanted and he mentioned wanting a tablet to surf the internet, facebook etc and I thought, hmm, that sounds like a perfect gift idea! I did some searching online and found one I thought would be perfect for him and not two hours later, he calls me and says he just bought himself a tablet! So annoying right?! So now I'm back to square one with him, uggh. We've been celebrating the 12 days of Christmas with Lacey, each night she gets to open a book and read it before bedtime. She loves it! This year is going to be so fun, she actually understands how to open the present and that there's something fun inside! I can't wait to see the look on her face when she opens something and it's not a stupid book! Haha! But I guess that's the joy in a soon-to-be two year old. She still enjoys books as gifts lol. I just love her!!

I've found myself struggling with what to get her as gifts. I think the reason it's been hard is because her birthday is only a few weeks later and I don't want her to be one of those kids that get a combined, "here's your christmas and birthday gift". With my birthday being in June, I was spoiled every six months and got an equal amount of gifts each time, and I want her to feel the same! A few things we have gotten for her so far include, an easel, she's really into coloring and pens right now, the cutest little playhouse for some play bunnies, new "big girl" utensils and cups/plates/bowls. And for her "big gift from Santa" she got the coolest set-up I wish I had gotten when I was a little girl. She inherited an amazing dollhouse from her Aunt Denise that it seriously incredible. It has every little piece of furniture imaginable, I actually think I might play with it more than her, hehe. 

Isn't that the coolest little thing ever?! Grandpa got her a barn and horse stable to match so she can have her own little farmhouse and animals. So cute! I'll make sure to get pictures of the whole setup that "Santa" brings on Christmas Eve. Have you finished all your shopping!? Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

here we are again

i really need to keep up on this! lol. so much has changed since my last post! Kameron is back at home from working out of town, at the time it seemed to drag on and on, but of course, I survived and he's with us each night again, yay! Halloween came and went, I was so impressed by how well Lacey did with the whole thing, she's getting to an age where she starts to get scared at weird things so I was super nervous to bring her downtown to all the festivities. I was imagining myself to be that mom, you know the one with the screaming kid that you have to rush to your car as fast as you can? But! It went awesome! There were a few times I could feel her little fingers grip the back of my arm in fear but no crying or anything! We ventured out with a friend of ours, Rae Anne and her young daughter Hadley. How cute are they?!

 

These girls have no choice, they are destined to be best friends while growing up! Which leads me to my next "big" thing that is changing for us! We recently decided to move forward with our live and stop settling for just renting our house, we went out on a whim and bought a piece of property! Woo Hoo! It's five acres on the outskirts of town, high enough in elevation to get a dusting of snow each year, yet still close to town for errands and such. It really is so perfect for us! Here we are, our first picture!

As you can see from the picture, it's literally just land. Nothing else. It's fully timbered and is going to require sooo much work, and lucky for my hubby, that's right up his alley. (he he) Thankfully,he has the ability to do almost all of the work himself which will save us time and money! cha-ching! We're starting this whole process, so I can only imagine what's to come and to be quite honest I don't even want to think about it, haha. Back to the beginning of this tangent, yes, these girls will be best friends forever! Rae Anne and her husband are looking to buy the peice of property right across from ours! How fun will it be for Lacey and Hadley to grow up together!? The thought brings a smile to my face!

such a baby today!

today marks the first day kameron will be working out of town all week for two months! i know, im such a baby and shouldn't be complaining, there are plenty of people out there who have to wait to see their husband or significant other for months, but i've literally only been away from him for a maximum of two days the entire time we've known each other. really missing him and its only the first night! i'm sort of glad that lacey is still so young though, i'm not sure she really understands that he's not here unless i say something about 'daddy'. so i now have all this free time while i'm not taking care of him ;)  i'm sure lacey will keep me plenty busy. we went to kam's parents for dinner this evening and when we got home she spun in circles for literally ten minutes straight lol. so of course im always doing something! without kameron here, it really makes me appreciate the little things he does for us and i know that he's only doing this because he loves his family so very much, what more could a girl ask for?! he blows me away more and more everyday!

i just can not get enough of our perfect family!