a day of sewing...

my mom came over today and she helped me sew an easter dress for madie! it is not your typical frilly easter dress but i really like it.

the finished product!

thank you mom.

i am so lucky to have such a talented mother :)

madie rae

my sweet girl...

finally! the weather was in the high 60's yesterday, so we headed outside to play!

I can't believe that she is "two a half" already. She is growning up so fast. She says so many funny things these days. We just love it. She is my bestest buddy. We go everywhere together. Our favorites are shopping and to lunch! Madie is such a girly girl. We were at the mall the other day and she melted down because I wouldn't buy her the paten leather shoes with rhinestones on them and the "beautiful white dress". She said "I need a beautiful dress mom". She asks me almost everyday if we are going to go to the "store". My mom told me that when I was her age, I asked her to take me to the "mall" all the time :) Like mother, Like daughter.

Here she is playining in her big girl room. She has a "big bed" now and she loves it. We are working on getting her new room all put together.

She thinks she is so grown up and wants to be a little mommy. She pretends to be my mom sometimes. It is so cute. I woke her up the other morning and she asked me, while nodding her head up and down, "you have a good night at work? good girl. you take care of the wittle babies? good girl." She nods her head when she is trying to be very mature :)

story time with dad

playing in some of my old high heels...

Portland

We just got back from a fun filled weekend in Portland. We were able to spend time with some of our most favorite friends! We got to go to one of Brett's best friend's SURPRISE 30th Birthday Bash!!! And we stayed with one of my best friends Kendall, and her sweet little girls. Madison was in heaven and I had so much fun catching up with my friend. We had one too many late nights though... I'm still trying to catch up. Kendall is such an example to me...

My friend Kendall took me to see the musical WICKED. Wow. It was fabulous!!! We had such good seats. I loved it! Thanks, Kendall!!! It was such a treat :)



We spent the rest of the weekend catching up with friends... and got to visit with my parents too.

Lunch with my friends Kendall and Cacye.
Cacye and I were BFF in Kindergarten. It is crazy that we are all mamas now!!


Madison getting a manicure!!!
One of my bestest friends that I have not seen in FOREVER...has a cute little nail salon/spa on the Portland Waterfront. We stopped in for a quick hello and Madison got pampered. Her first manicure and a foot soak! Wow.

and of course she chose pink...


Me and Kat in her cute salon!!
I'll be back to get my own manicure for sure!!


waiting for her nails to dry



more friends...
Breakfast Downtown with some of my Best Friends from High School! What a blast!




Danette (aka the party planner), Me and Kendall watching the kids play at OMSI.
I didn't get any pictures of Jeremy's surprise party!! It was a blast and he was very surprised ;)
a family photo on the waterfront


Me and Kendall

Our crazy girls! I didn't get a single picture of them both looking at the camera!

I think they are destined to be BFF's they are so much alike.

Madison and Elise playing at OMSI

scroll down.... way down... to read ALL about our trip to cali ! sorry its so long...i couldn't leave anything out :)

birthdays...

We were in California for Brett's 30th birthday. My sister and Brandon were so nice and watched Madie overnight for us. We went to Hollywood for dinner and went on a tour of Beverly Hills and then spent the night in a hotel right on the Beach in Santa Monica. We woke up the next morning and drove along the Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu...what a beautiful drive!

Me and Brett in Santa Monica

In Hollywood on Brett's 30th Birthday. You can see the hollywood sign on the hill in the background if you look real close.



Hailey also had a birthday while we were in Cali!

Connor and Madison found the cupcakes first thing in the morning. Cupcakes for breakfast!! What a great birthday treat!

Here we are at a yummy Thai resturant celebrating Hailey's Birthday... after a long day at Disney Land!!

the california beaches...

One of my favorite parts of our vacation was going to the Beach!!

Here we are at Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. We saw dolphins swimming off the shore on Newport Beach!!

Brett built a lot of sand castles with Madie and Connor. Here they are playing in the sand on Hunington Beach.



My me and my sister on Newport Beach ;)


Madison with a Starfish!! We saw a few of these in the tidepools on Newport Beach.

Writing in the sand...

Daddy and his little girl exploring on the beach...

I love this picture of Hailey and Connor on the beach!

Disney Land

The Happies Place on Earth....

I think Madie would agree that the happiest place on earth is Disney Land! It was the highlight of our trip to see our sweet little girl enjoy herself so much! She was so excited she could hardly stand it! And she is STILL talking about it. Almost every day she asks me if we can go to back to Disney Land and see the Princesses! She gets her shoes on and says "I'm ready a go to diney land". It is so cute...

family photo at the entrance


waiting to get on the tea cups...one of Madie's favorites!

Hailey and Connor on the Tea Cup Ride

Madison's favorite ride was DUMBO! This is the ride she keeps talking about. I think we went on it three or four times!

We got to spend two full days at Disney Land and it was hardly enough...
On our second day we got Madison a Sleeping Beauty dress and took her to the "Fantasy Fair" to get her makeup done like a princess! She was on cloud nine! She kept telling the lady to put "pink" make up and her and then asked her to do "my hair too". Some of the other little girls were getting their hair done, but it cost a fortune...so we bought a cute pink crown to put in her hair instead. After we got the princess ready, Madison and I got to go to a special "girls" lunch together. We went to Ariel's Grotto to a Princess Lunch! Madison was on her very best behavior and it was such a special time for both of us. Each Princess came to greet us at our table. Madison gave them all a hug and talked to them in such a sweet precious voice. She asked Belle where the Beast was and she asked Snow White where Dopey was :) She actually had tears in her eyes when she gave Cinderella a hug. What a special afternoon we had together. I will never forget it.

Sleeping Beauties

Cinderella




Getting the "royal" treatment.

Madie got her "makeup" done like sleeping beauty!

Connor and Mickey Mouse




Meeting Mickey mouse with the kids

Madie and her favorite princess!

CALIFORNIA

CALIFORNIA

At the end of January we took a trip to visit my sister, Connor and Brandon in sunny California!! We had a fabulous time!! I loved it so much I'm headed back in a few weeks for a girls trip!

It was so nice to get away from the cold weather here in Boise and see the sun!
It was in the 70's and 80's all week :)

The first day we were there we drove down to San Diego. Brett surfed on a Flowrider wave at Mission Beach. Then we spent some time playing on the beach. We also stopped at the San Diego Zoo! Madison and Connor loved the zoo. Brett had a fun time with the gorillas. They kept copying everything he did.