Everyday Moments

Adventures in SAC

2011-11-20T11:51:00.000-08:00

Matt had training for a few days in Sacramento SO Easton and I decided to ~~crash the party~~ tag along :0) His hotel room was nice but super tiny and lets just say that Easton had a rough night that first night..which translates to NO sleep for anyone! (sorry Matt! ;0) The next morning as i was getting ready in the bathroom, i felt a little water dripping on me, THEN the water started DUMPING from the ceiling!! (picture a waterfall ;0) So i called the people at the front desk and told them about the little problem...It turns out that the water pipes busted in the ceiling so they had to move us to another room...I was expecting the same little room BUT we got HOOKED UP! It had two rooms, two big TVs a kitchen and a bigger bathroom! I was in heaven! Now Easton had plenty of room to run around and his own room to ~~scream~~ sleep in ;0) JK he did really well after the first night! SO while Matt was in his interrogation class, Easton and i played in Sacramento! The first stop was the ZOO! Taking Easton there was so fun and insane at the same time! Picture me chasing Easton around while pushing an empty stroller trying to take pictures of the animals! Not pretty! He had a blast though and thought the animals were super cool! Here are some pics!

'Get a ROOM!' (they were actually fighting ;0)

'What are YOU lookin' at?'

This was the highlight of Eastons day...best 50 cents ive ever spent ;0)

So the zoo was a success! Matt got out of his class everyday around 5 so we went out to dinner a few times (BJs being the highlight) and i drug Easton to Ikea a couple of times...cant resist that place! It was fun to get out of the house for a few days (im seriously a hermit!) and do something fun and out of the ordinary!
THE.END

One Cute Kid!

2011-10-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

I try to take lots of pictures of Easton (although sometimes im a huge slacker!) Some months i dont take any pictures...not ONE! UNacceptable...my mother would be so dissapointed! ;0) Easton is growing up so fast and i want to capture him as he grows into a sweet little boy ♥ I just thought id share some of the recent Easton cuteness to brighten your day :0)

The End :0)

for those of you who dont know...

2011-10-27T16:40:00.001-07:00

Good Mommy or Bad Mommy?

2011-10-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

...you be the judge! :0)

Family FUN!

2011-10-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

HELLO! I think its about time that i update this thing! ;0) An aventure took place a couple of weeks ago and needs to be documented (along with the thousand other adventures that i need to put on here! OY!) Ill just start with this one..but FIRST here is a recent picture/info about Easton! ;0)

My sweet little boy is already 17 months! He is just the cutest thing and i love watching him learn new things and explore! He is so smart and is starting to talk alot more. His favorite word right now is "Uh-Ohhh" (he mostly says it when he ~~throws~~ drops stuff) Here is a list of other things he says:

Dog--(DOG-EEE)

Cat--(KEE-KEE)

Mom--(Mom-MA)

Dad--(Dad-EH)

Yo Gabba Gabba--(Gab,Gab)(His favorite show ;0)

Light--(Laaaii) He has an obsession with lights and makes it a point to point out every light he sees! :0)

Baby--(Be-BEE)

AND there are some others too that i cant remember at the moment! But its fun to listen to his sweet little voice :0) LOVE that boy! Anywho, on to the adventure ;0) My mom came to town and stayed with us for a few days! We spent some qualitly time catching up, laughing, playing with Easton and going to yard sales! One thing you should know about us Bulkeley girls is that we love us a good yard sale! ;0) Here i am cleaning the play structure that i got for ONE DOLLAR! Score!

I look a little too ~~crazed~~ excited in the picture! HA! :0)

Easton LOVES it...and yes, i put it inside! (cause im ~~ghetto~~ cool like that ;0) We also walked down the street to the annual 'fair' here in Paradise called Johnny Appleseed days and we bought some cool wooden rubberband guns that shoot ping pong balls! Matt and i battled it out with those later that day (I won of course ;0) Here we are at the park after the fair festivities...

The weather was PERFECT that whole week!...SO nice! We also went to see the Salmon run in Oroville! This time every year, the river is completely packed FULL of huge salmon who travel there from the ocean to spawn. Pretty cool site to see all of them!

This is a fish ladder...they swim up these!= COOL!

Easton not feeling very photogenic ;0)
We had fun for a few days and then took a road trip to Corvallis Oregon to visit my sister Tanya! This trip is becoming an annual tradition. Easton did really well in the car for 8 hours but we were all happy when we finally made it there! We had such a good time together! Everytime i see my family i just wish that we could all live closer to eachother so we could visit more often! My sister is 5 months pregnant (even though ~~i look more pregnant that she does~~ she doesnt look it ;0) We found out that she is having a little GIRL in February and we couldnt be happier! (she already has a cute little boy! ) So that was pretty exciting! Everytime we go to Oregon we always end up bringing twice as much ~~crap~~ stuff back with us! (gotta love the no taxes perk!) Although most of the ~~crap~~ stuff we bring back is from yardsales anyway! :0) Yet another reason why yardsales are so awesome...NO taxes! ;0) So its a good thing we took my truck this time instead of my moms little car (it wasnt a pretty site last time...lets just say it was F.U.L.L! ;0) The main reason we came is for Coles birthday party! He turned 4!

Here are a few pics form the partayyy!

I pretty much played the 'chase Easton around' game the whole time! This is one busy little boy!

♥ this face!

Mr. Independent!

Somebody LOVES slides!...Went down all by himself!

Carefully examining a rock...which are one of his FAVORITE things! ANYwho, the birthday party was a hit! We got cole a remote control helicopter for his birthday (which i secretly wanted for myself! :0) HA! My grandparents actually ended up coming to visit too! It was so nice to be able to spend some time with them too! Easton sure loves his great grandma and grandpa :0)

FOUR generations!!

I love my Grandma ♥
While we were there, we played 'hair' ;0)...

and 'doctor' ;0)

and played with Cole's cool toys

AND Uncle Billy took Easton on his first quad ride! :0)

Cole sure knows how to ride his quad!

Pretty impressive for a 4 year old!

While we were there, Billy shot a deer! Cole and i decded to go with him and take a look at it!

We ended up getting a little more than we bargained for!! He decided to 'clean' the deer right there...I took some pictures of the gore/nastiness involved in cleaning a deer but i decided to spare you....youre welcome ;0) We had such a good time there and it was so sad to leave (although Easton and i did miss a certain someone back home ;0) Matt is such a good sport for letting us 'abandon' him like that! ♥ (random cute pic of E ;0)

Im so lucky to have such an awesome family to create memories with! ♥

I told them to give their best 'creeper' face and this is what i got ;0) HAHA!

THE END ♥

Family Reunion Part 1

2011-08-24T00:48:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month we had a family reunion!! When i found out we were having one, i knew i wanted to take our little vintage trailer that ive been fixing up with us...SO i had to ~~bust my butt~~ work hard to get her usable for the trip! The 'Happy Camper' is still not 100% finished but she was good enough to take on her maiden voyage! ;0) Here is a pic of our Happy Camper ready to go!

Soon i will post pics of the inside and all of the before/after pictures! So stay tuned for that adventure! ;0) Anywho we had our reunion at Siskiyou Lake (Nor-Cal) and had a BLAST!

It was so nice to have everyone together! Even both sets of my grandparents were there! We spent alot of our time lounging/swimming/chatting on the 'beach'. We did alot of fishing and caught TONS of fish!

I think we Thad cooked up like 20 fish one night = dee-lish! ;0) We all took turns cooking dinner and breakfast during the week...Matt and i made homemade BBQ chicken pizza for our dinner & bucuits and gravy for our breakfast. Everyone did a great job on their meals and needless to say thats the best ive ever eaten while camping! Its usually just hotdogs and hobo packs for us! ;0) We did some crafts during the day and played catch up with our awesome family...We laughed A.L.O.T and had so much fun together! The trailer was a nice thing to have...it fit all of our ~~junk~~ stuff in it just fine and it was so nice to sleep on something other than the ground! Easton did really well and even slept in the cabin with Grandma and Grandpa Bulkeley a couple nights..(thanks guys! :0) ONE night we heard some noise outside of our trailer so ~~i made~~ Matt go outside and see what it was!...Our ice chest was tipped over and there were HUGE holes (bitemarks) in it...it was a BEAR! We had bear encounters pretty much the whole trip...One night, my Grandpa went outside to get his cane and there was a big BEAR digging in the trash by the door! He grunted at my Grandpa and im sure he moved quicker than he has in a long time back inside the cabin! ;0) Heres Easton having a good time with us on the 'fun' island!

Great Grandma Bigelow ♥

Easton loves the water and loved playing in the sand/ looking for rocks (his FAVORITE thing! ;0)
The girls and i decided to go out on our own fishing adventure! ~~Tanya and i~~ we caught a bunch of fish and had a great time laughing and soaking up the sun! I tried getting Tara and Britt to hold a fish for a picture but they werent havin' it! ;0)

We also attempted to make up a 'dance' for the 'talent show' that night...Im pretty sure the sight of us ~~flailing~~ dancing around in a little fishing boat looked quite strange ;0) The Girls...

I love these amazing girls and it was nice to be able to spend some quality time with them! The week went by waaay too fast and it was very sad to say goodbye to everyone! Im glad that we got the opportunity to make some fun memories together though :0)
-The reason why this is titled 'Family reunion part 1' is because i barely have/took any pictures! I will be getting a bunch from my Mom (a.k.a paparazzi ;0) shortly and will then post the rest! SO...T.B.C...

Classic Summer

2011-08-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

Easton had a new discovery the other day...

You guessed it...he discovered the hose! :0) Playing with the hose is a classic summer activity in my book...I mean, what kid doesnt like playing with the hose?! I did all.the.time growing up and you will still catch me sipping hose water while im outside on a hot day...old habbits, what can i say? ;0) Here is Eastons first hose lesson: do not point right at the face! ;0) Poor guy..

Dont worry, he recovered quickly! ;0)

It is so fun to watch Easton discover everything for the first time ♥ Im one lucky mommy...

Love this boy!

FINALLY 4th!

2011-08-18T23:35:00.000-07:00

Dont you love how the 4th of july was over a month ago and im just now posting about it?! It seems as though ive been so busy working on my computer (doing blog designs) that as soon as i get some free time i dont want anything to do with my computer! (We have a love/hate relationship ;0) which is why my blog has been suffering! I really do want to start posting on a more regular basis (and believe me, i have plenty to post about!) so well see how that goes! ;0) Lets see, Matt was able to get the 4th off this year so we decided to go camping at Lake Almanor (we are trying to make this a 4th of July tradition) So we packed up our camping stuff and Easton and headed for the great outdoors! We hadnt made reservations but we were super lucky and found an awesome spot to camp (thank goodness!)

We were nervous about sleeping in a little tent with Easton at this age! We slept (i use that term loosely ;0) on an air mattress with Easton in the middle and were afraid to move all night because we didnt want to wake him up and let everyone in the campground hear the wrath of Easton! We managed to make it through the night with minimal screaming so i consider that a success! On the 4th of july we went to the little town in Lake Almanor just to find out that we missed the annual parade! However we still got to grub on some delicious tri tip sandwiches so it wasnt a total loss ;0) We went to the fly shop there and got some flies to fish with. We fished until it started getting dark with no luck...it was still fun though! (here is easton ~~sleeping~~ being supportive ;0)

Since it was getting dark and the fireworks start when its dark we headed over to the beach we like with the best view of the fireworks over the water. We werent alone this year but Easton was okay with that because this boy LOVES to people watch..So cute ♥

While we were waiting Easton played by the lake shore with his Daddy..

Easton LOVES rocks and had a blast examining/throwing/~~eating~~ them! ;0)

It seems like we waited forever for the fireworks to start (it seems that way every year) and E was getting pretty cranky because it was waay past his bedtime but as soon as the fireworks started, he was in awe. I loved watching him watch fireworks for the first time. He was mesmerized by the bright colors and sounds of the fireworks bursting over the water...a moment i will not soon forget :0)

THE.END ♥

Bad Mommy!

2011-07-14T23:51:00.000-07:00

YES we are all still alive! :0) I really need to keep up with this blogging thing..playing catch up can be tedious! :0) SO lets start with the most important event that has occurred ~~semi~~ recently ;0) Our sweet little Easton turned ONE!!! ( i feel like such a bad mommy for not posting about this sooner!)

I cant believe it...he is growing up so fast!..When i look at him now i dont see a baby anymore..i see a sweet little boy ♥ its sad and exciting at the same time! Who woulda thought that one year olds are so much FUN?! Easton is also WALKING now...all over the place in fact :0) Its pretty much his favorite thing to do :0) We had some family come up to celebrate Eastons birthday with us! It was a blast spending time with them..here are some pics from Eastons big birthday bash ;0)

As you can tell, he was a BIG FAN of the cupcakes and he got some pretty cool stuff for his birthday :0) He got his first wagon (thank you grandma and grandpa ;0) and a little radio flyer tricycle! Along with other awesome goodies! The next day we went to the fair! Easton loved watching the animals and crazy people ;0) Here are some pics of our fair adventure!

We were sad to see everyone leave! Here are some pics of our guests (mom & dad Gates) the only pic i got of youguys was dad pulling Easton in the wagon! So sneaky how you always manage to stay out of the pictures ;0) Heres Grandma Bulkeley having fun with our little bear!

Thanks for coming and making Easton feel special on his big day! We love you ♥ Come back soon!

Easton really is the sweetest boy..i am grateful every day for our little family ♥ I love my boys! :0)

Easter Happenings

2011-05-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Last week we had some visitors for Easter! Andrew (Matts brother) Yana (his wife) and Dariyan (their cute little boy) came up and stayed with us for a few days! It was SO nice to see them/have them here! We didnt want to let them leave when it was time for them to go home ;0) Easton and Dariyan are only 5 days apart so its always really fun to see them together. They became fast friends and spent alot of time playin around..so cute! ♥ We spent alot of time just relaxing and chit-chatting. We went to the park and went on a short hike. Then we played with our cute little men and watched them walk/crawl around on the grass :0) We took about a million pictures while they were up here (we couldnt help ourselves!) so bear with me ;0)

While they were here, we all went out on the boat (Yana and Dariyans first time!) The babies both did surprisingly well and it was fun to get out on the water!

I wanted to take pictures of our little men together for their first Easter so i made them matching bow-ties for the occasion :0) Ive been trying to learn how to use my camera in manual mode and was pretty bummed because all of the pictures turned out really dark! (i think the ISO needed to be higher) but I managed to fix up a few for your viewing pleasure ;0)

On Easter Sunday, we all went to church together and had fun wrestling with our little guys and trying to keep them quiet during Sacrament (no easy task!) It was refreshing to have someone there in the same boat as me for once! (Our ward doesnt have alot of young ppl ;0) After church the boys opened their presents from the Easter Bunny! ;0)

...Easton was in to it ;0)

Our wonderful guests had to get going so we took a couple more pictures with our sweet little boys before they left..

We were very sad to see them all go but so happy that they got to come up for a visit! Hopefully we will have more visitors soon! :0) The End.

Bathroom Re-do!

2011-04-29T15:52:00.000-07:00

So weve been in our house for almost two years now...and weve re-done almost every room...every room, that is, except for our downstairs bathroom. To tell you the truth, it was just SO UGLY i didnt know where to start, so i left it alone. So there it sat for two years, frightening our guests and causing much embarassment for me! A few weeks ago as i walked by our hideous bathroom i decided then and there that i would finally DO something about it! So i did!...Well, Matt did help a little ;0) I tried to make the re-do as inexpensive as possible and i think we were able to pull it of for a very reasonable price! Hooray! :0) We basically ripped everything out (vanity, BROWN toilet and sink, gold sliding shower door..3 layers of ugly vinyl flooring and transformed it into something bright,happy and fabulous ;0) And it only took us about a week to do! :0) Here is the (im so embarrassed to even show you!) before picture of the bathroom!

...AFTER!...

SO there you have it...our new and improved bathroom! It is still tiny,but im so happy with how it looks now :0) The End.

DETAILS:
The paint color i used is called 'Surfer' and its by BEHR :0)
The shower curtain/trashcan/soap dispenser/rug are all from Target! (LOVE that place! ;0)
The wood flooring is from Lowes. The brand is Swiftlock and the color is called 'Fireside Oak.' (Super easy to install!)
Let me know if you have any other ?'s! :0)
http://2momstalk.blogspot.com/2011/06/well-wishing-wednesdays.html

(Linking Up!)

Visitors and the New Toy!

2011-02-11T21:54:00.000-08:00

So last week we had some visitors! Well...they didnt really come to see US but a certain cute baby boy ;0) Easton loved spending time with his Grandma and Grandpa Gates ♥

While they were up here we played around on our new toy! Matt and i recently got ourselves a 15foot fishing boat and are having a blast with it! Heres Grandma and Easton on the lake :0)

...and here is our new toy! We decided to get a fishing boat because we thought it would be a fun family friendly activity for us and little Easton ♥

We explored the lake a little bit and had a picnic on a little grassy island in the middle of the lake. Here are a couple picks of Easton..

This one cracks me up..grouchy face ;0)

The grandparents were nice enough to watch Easton on the island while Matt and i took the boat for a spin and did a little fishing..heres Captain Matt! ;0)

That was a fun day! Matts parents were here for a few days and we had a great time with them! We played games, relaxed, ate some good food and watched little Easton being his cute self ♥

I made him his first 'fort' out of his car seat box ;0)

Here he is hangin out with momma...who has paint all over her hand from a project ;0)

Here he is sleeping on me in the boat a couple days ago..so sweet ♥

Love this boy...

Easton just cut two more teeth! Now he has two on bottom and two on top..SOOO cute! He is eating more 'people food' now which has been ~~messy~~ fun :0) He is also crawling and i think he will be walking soon! He is such an amazing little boy and its been so fun to see him progress and change everyday! He is starting to look more and more like a little boy! Where did my tiny BABY go?! :0)

Recent Memories

2011-02-11T21:29:00.000-08:00

So i was looking through the pictures on my camera and realized that i should blog about some of this stuff that weve been doing! Here are a couple little trips that we took a ~~few~~ couple months ago that got overlooked somehow ;0) We took Easton on a little hike in the mountains.

We used our Kelty backpack and he did great in it!Our little man sure loves to be outside ♥ He must get that from his mommy and daddy ;0) It must have been lady bug season because there were thousands of them everywhere! Here they are crawling all over my arm!

These pictures make me feel a little itchy...it was cool but kinda gross at the same time ;0)

Matt and i brought our fishing poles along with us but neither of us did much fishing...we were having way too much fun with our CUTE baby boy!

We also took a little day trip to the snow...

well..we were on our way to Bucks lake but the roads were too snowy and we couldnt make it there so we stopped and played in it for a while!..Easton loved his first snow experience :0)

Better Late Than Never!

2011-01-12T23:25:00.000-08:00

SO Im finally posting about our Christmas! I look forward to Christmas every year because its a special time i get to share with family ♥ This year was exceptionally awesome because not only was it sweet little Easton's very FIRST Christmas..our whole family was in town!! All of my siblings and grandparents! I absolutely LOVED spending time with everyone! It was pretty crazy and hectic but i wouldnt have it any other way! ;0) While we were there we took some family pictures!...♥

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house where we had the traditional dinner and 'program' afterwards..The 'program' usually consists of a few skits and songs and a reenactment of the nativity followed by the 'Santa Letter' which talks about the progress/updates of each kid in the family :0) We opened some presents that night..i was SO BUSY with presents this year! I desided to make most of the presents i gave and since i just took up crocheting i made owl hats for my neices and nephews...all NINE of them!! I was seriously a sweat shop all December getting those done! They are super cute though and im so glad they liked them :0) Heres just a few..

Heres an owl hat i made for Easton..He looks SO CUTE in them! ♥

On Christmas morning we opened more presents at my parents house and went over to Matt's parents house to spend some time there! A perk about being married is that you get TWO Christmases ;0) Easton and his little cousin Dariyan love hanging out together! Its the cutest thing!..They are only a week apart and i can tell they are going to be the best of friends growing up ;0) Here is some cuteness of the two of them ♥

Little Easton had a BLAST opening presents...he was WAY more interested in playing with/eating the wrapping paper than he was in the actual presents but it was so fun to watch him!

Here he is with his big 'Santa present.'

We Santa got him a walker...he is getting so good at it too! He likes to cruise ALL OVER our kitchen in his new ride ;0)..the boys got skillz!

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and chit chatting. The next day, it was time for us to hit the road. I feel like our visits with the family are NEVER long enough! It would be so nice to see everyone more often but well take what we can get! I love my family so much and am excited for Easton to get to know them well :0) Easton update! He is almost 8 months old now and has the cutest little personality! He rolls around like crazy and is on the verge of crawling..SCARY! He is so big! He is wearing 12 month clothes! When i come to get him out of his crib, this is what i see..

He strains to sit up as far as he can go and peeks at me over the side of his crib!...its the funniest/cutest thing ever! Makes me smile every time :0)

He gets so excited when we come to 'bust him out' of his crib! ;0) He has been eating solid food for quite a while now and always wants what were having! He makes all kinds of sounds and i must document that he said 'momma' first! ;0) He says 'dadadada' now too..i doubt he knows what they mean yet but its so cute to hear him say it anyway! He just started giving me kisses too! (Which i totally need to get on video!) I will make kissing sounds next to his face and he'll lean in and give me a sloppy little Easton kiss! It totally melts my heart! I cant tell you how much i love this boy ♥

For the past couple of weeks, our poor little man has been sick...we ALL have! My sisters kids gave us the gift that keeps on giving for Christmas...a.k.a. the PLAGUE! ;0) He is finally getting better but weve had many sleepless nights with our little guy lately. He is definitely not enjoying his first experience of being sick...i dont blame the guy! Anywho, we are all starting to get better and looking less and less like zombies..which is bueno ;0) OH, and i just turned 25 on the 8th..a quarter of a century old!!! Anywho, i hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and if you didnt get a Christmas Card from us, this is what it looked like!

And here are some recent pictures weve taken of our little family ♥

THE END ♥

Flashback

2011-01-01T21:48:00.000-08:00

SO ive been a total slacker...and before i can post about Christmas i must catch up! My mom came up for a visit (in October!) and we went to Oregon together to visit my sister Tanya! Since this is my journal i dont want to leave this out because it was so much fun! I have the coolest family ever and my sister is no exception! There are always good times to be had when we are together ;0) Here is Easton with his cousin Cole ♥

We had so much fun spending time with Tanya and her little family :0) We put a few puzzles together..went on a few yard-saleing adventures ;0) Had a TON of laughs and just enjoyed the company :0) Here we are at Red Robin after a long day of yard-saling...Easton was such a trooper ;0)

While i was there, their fishing guide friend Bob invited them to go Salmon fishing with him...and they let me tag along! It was SO fun! We got up at the butt crack of dawn and met Bob at the river around 6am. I was the first to catch a fish! It was a biggin' and the first Salmon that ive ever caught! ;0)

These fish are so strong and fun to real in! I was a little reluctant to put my hand in its mouth to hold it for the picture considering that they have TEETH!...BIG ones!! We fished pretty much all day (until 5-6pm) and my mom was nice enough to watch Easton and my sister's little guy, Cole. Thanks mom! :0) Here are some more pics from the fishing trip..

The Crew ;0)

Seeesters ♥

Bob :0)

The river

I have to say the trip was a success...we each caught at least one fish! Good times!
FUNNY STORY: When we were done, the boys pulled the boat up to the shore, took out the fish and started cleaning them. While they were doing this, Tanya and i were in the boat cleaning it up for Bob. As we were 'swabbing the decks' we were unaware that the boat had gotten loose from the shore and had started drifting away! I looked up and we were floating down the river!!..Which would be no big deal..if one of us knew how to work the BOAT! The guys were on shore yelling confusing instructions how to start the motor and we couldnt figure it out (mind you we were drifting further and further away, towards the ocean!) My sis started to panic so her hubby stripped down and jumped in after us...in his underwear! Note: the water was freezing! He got about half way to us and couldnt go any further because we were drifting away too quickly for him to catch up..my sister was freaking out and gave up on trying to get the boat going so i stepped in and gave it a go (note: i have NO boating experience whatsoever!) But i managed to start the huge motor and steer the boat towards Billy who was freezing in the water! We pulled him in/threw a jacket on him and he took us to shore! SO crazy! It was a little scary at the time but makes a good story now..and hey, all is well that ends well! ;0)
The next day was Coles (pirate themed) 3rd birthday party. We had fun making shirts for the occasion :0)

Gotta love my little pirate baby! ;0) We had to go home after the party but we had a good visit! Thanks for letting us invade your house Tanya and Billy! We love you!! ♥

My little Koala Bear

2010-11-23T23:22:00.000-08:00

I cant stand it...Easton is just TOO CUTE! He will be 6 months old on the 25th (can you believe it!?) SOOO i did a little photoshoot of my handsome little man in the koala hat i made him...I recently taught myself how to crochet and am addicted! His nickname these days has been Koala Bear or Koalawalla :0) Does anyone else have a million nicknames for their kid/kids?...Eastons nickname changes all.the.time ;0) Anywho, I just love these pics of him!...I couldnt narrow it down to just a couple pictures to post SO you get to see the many faces of Easton ;0) and if you look closely, you might catch a glimpse of his two little bottom teeth coming in ♥ Enjoy!

Man, i love this boy! ♥

Its about TIME!

2010-11-19T23:58:00.000-08:00

I think its about time for an Easton update dont you? Its only been a couple of months (Im such a slacker! ;0) Its crazy how much a little person can change in just a couple of short months but one thing has remained the same... Easton is still the sweetest most lovable huggable baby in the whole world! :0)

Lets see, At his last doctors appt (a couple months ago) he got some more shots (BOO!) and his 'stats' were off the charts...he was 98th percentile for height and 96th for weight...hes my little linebacker ;0) Easton also started eating solids a couple of months ago...he would just STARE at me while i ate so i thought id give it a try...and i must say, he is definitely a fan of food! ;0)

So far he LOVES sweet corn casserole, sweet potatoes, sweet peas (anything with the word SWEET in it...like hims momma ;0) carrots, any kind of fruit and bananna oatmeal. Hes not a big fan of any meats though but i dont blame the guy...meat baby food smells a little too much like CAT FOOD to me! :0) SO about a week ago i got a good look at Eastons bottom gums and was shocked to see TWO TEETH had come through! It seriously must have happened overnight! Hes such a trooper! He hasnt even been super fussy about teething (knock on wood!) Lets see..we had a fun Halloween together! I decided to make him his very first Halloween costume ever and this is what i came up with.....

He was the cutest little Yoda baby ever! ;0) We spent Halloween handing out candy with some friends of ours. Good times! Here are a few random recent pictures of Easton..

Here are a few of Eastons likes:
Momma and Daddy of course ;0)
Being sung to
His hanging jumper
Going for walks with mommy
The Baby Bjorn
Being tickled
To ~~rip the pages~~ read with mommy
He LOVES being outside
Car rides (most of the time)
He is really good while im running errands
His Grandma(s) and Grandpa(s)
He likes it when we 'bust him out' of his crib after he wakes up
To chew on anything and everything
The kitty and enjoys ~~getting handfulls of~~ petting her
Being naked
Toys that light up

Here are a few of Eastons Dislikes:
He hates getting his clothes put on
Loud noises
The sun in his eyes
being tired
being hungry

Here are a few Easton Qwirks:
He doenst like to have a blanket on him..he just kicks them off
He is super squirmy..i call him 'sqirm-a worm' :0)
He isnt super smiley to people he doesnt know..and usually has a serious look on his face :0)
He is very observant and likes to examine everything

Easton is almost 6 MONTHS OLD! Can you believe it?! We love our sweet/perfect little boy! ♥
The End

Crafty Crave

2010-09-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

So, im slightly obsessed with crafts...so obsessed that ive started my own craft blog!...So check it out if youre feelin crafty! ;0)

Design S.O.S Contest!

2010-09-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Do you have a room or two in your house that is just plain ugly and you draw a blank every time you try to figure out how to fix it up? I do. Thats why i decided to enter my two UGLIEST rooms into a contest for a chance to fix it up on True Value's dime! Score! Im actually kind of embarrased to show everyone these rooms but id appreciate your support!..SOOO if you get a chance, just click on the button below and CHECK IT OUT! :0) Thanks a million! I hope everyone is having a fabulous day! :0)

Blessing

2010-09-04T23:12:00.000-07:00

This last week we were able to spend some time in lovely Bakersfield with our amazing families! Matts parents came up to Paradise for a visit and Easton i went back with them..my poor hubby had to work and it was weird being away from him for a whole week! We missed him, however, it was nice to be able to spend another week there with the fam! It was fun introducing Easton our everyone for the first time! Here are some pics of Easton with some of his new friends ♥

Easton also got to meet his little cousin Dariyan for the first time! They are only 5 days apart! I have a feeling that they are going to be best buddies one day :0)

While i was there, i was sick pretty much the whole time!...i know, lame right?! I had the flu one day and then a breast infection from breastfeeding the next day! (sorry if thats TMI :0) My temp was 101.5 and i was in PAIN! Thank you everyone for helping me with Easton while i was sick! Good thing my mommy was there to take care of me ;0) The good news is that i got better just in time for Eastons blessing day! Matt drove down Sunday a.m. (poor baby) and he blessed him in his ward. Easton and his cousin Dariyan were blessed on the same day so that was really neat! I was nervous that Easton would cry the whole time but he was perfect! I didnt hear a peep out of him! Matt gave him such a beautiful blessing..how lucky i am to have such a sweet husband and baby boy! It had been freakishly hot the whole week before..but it was a beautiful day on Sunday (only 80 degrees) just for Easton :0) Here are a few pictures after the blessing..

We were originally going to bless Easton in the blessing outfit his daddy wore..but..our little chunk was too big for it SO i found this adorable little outfit online..it has a little vest and bow tie..SO CUTE! ♥
After church, the whole family came over for a yummy dinner! It was so great to spend time with everyone!
While we were in Bakersfield it got up to 112 degrees outside! It literally felt like an oven outside! So naturally, we did a LOT of this...

Easton had his first swimming experience..he really likes the water! It is so fun watch our little boy experience everything for the first time ♥

I also got a chance to have fun with the waterproof camera that i bought a while back...it worked great! :0)

Matt has been itching to go rafting so while we were there, we made a date out of it ;0)

My cute hubby on the bus...

and with ~~a crazy woman~~ his wife ;0)

speaking of crazy ladies...he made me take this picture...

so i could get a pic of this lady.....and her GINORMOUS goggles! HA HAH 'awesome!'

There was alot of water in the river still which meant lots of rapids which meant lots of FUN! During the slow parts, we went swimming! The water felt great!

We had a great time and made it back in one piece ;0) And we cant come to Bakersfield without visiting my favorite ice cream shop!

i LOOOVE Rosemarys and always get the giant banana split...and yes, i eat the whole thing! ;0) YUM

Also, another must when i visit is a puzzle..we love puzzles in our family! :0)

dorks! ♥

..and heres Easton chillin on the cute little quilt my Grandma Bigelow made for him ♥ Its made out of vintage fabric and is adorable!

We had a great time visiting some of our favorite people!..I only wish they lived closer! Y'all are more than welcome to come visit us if you ever feel like taking a trip up to Paradise ;0) We love youguys!

Easton's First Campout!

2010-08-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

We took Easton on his first camping trip this week! I was a little nervous to take him but im happy to report that he did great! We had a fabulous time relaxing in the mountains with our little man ♥

Hopefully the next time we go camping, we will be able to do it in style..(with our little retro trailer! ;0) Here is Matt trying to stuff the air mattress into our little tent (i bet him a five minute back scratch that he couldnt do it ;0)

but luckily he managed to cram it in which meant we didnt have to sleep on the hard ground..thank goodness! Easton was a champ, he loves being outside and he was content to hang out with us. Here he is on the ~~changing table~~ picnic table ;0)

(giving mommy a 'bump') heheh ;0)

We went on quite a few hikes while we were up there...we ended up going to the McCloud River in Northern Ca. It was beautiful there and we got to see quite a few waterfalls.

Matt was nice enough to watch Easton while i fished a little..whata guy ;0)

Easton liked to be carried around on our hikes...here he is in his various carriers :0)

What a cutie pie! ♥

Our little family ♥

I caught this tiny lizard on one of our hikes...

...Say hello to my little friend ;0)

For dinner that night we cooked up some hobo packs (a camping tradition of ours.) They were delish!

and its not a camping trip unless you roast marshmallows on the fire and make some smores! ;0) While Easton was sleeping we layed in the bed of the truck and watched the shooting stars...the night sky is so beautiful in the mountains ♥ It got pretty cold at night but Easton was cozy sleeping in between us all bundled up..he woke up a couple times to eat but other than that, he slept great (so the other campers didnt have to hate us! ;0) The next morning we made a fire, ate breakfast and hung out with our sweet little boy ♥

Then we packed up our camp and hit the road. We stopped at Burney Falls on the way home..SO pretty!

love this picture of my boys ♥

I look forward to the many adventures we will have camping as a family ♥

2+ Months!

2010-08-06T22:50:00.000-07:00

I cant believe it has already been 2+ months since we brought this precious little boy into our lives! Time flies when you get to spend it with your favorite little person ♥ We feel so blessed. I look at our sweet Easton every day and cant imagine life without him! Being new parents is definitely a rollercoaster ride with lots of ups and downs but ill tell you one thing.... theres nothing in the World that id rather be than this sweet little boy's Mommy :0) We love our little Bug! ♥ Here are some recent pics of Easton...

i had to put one of his sad face...SOOOO SAD!

ALL better ;0)

♥

If Only...

2010-08-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

If only i lived in Virginia...(THIS is why ;0)

We Got One!

2010-07-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

She is a 1965 vintage Alladin travel trailer and we have big plans for her...BIG.plans. Stay tuned for more info and pics!

Call Me Crazy!

2010-07-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

Call me crazy but i would LOVE to get my hands on something like this....

...and turn it into something like this!

Arent they fabulous?!

SO originally we wanted a tent trailer for camping purposes but ~~i've~~ we've fallen in love with these babies! I think one would be perfect for our little family and easy enough to cart around on our many adventures ♥ Now im on the hunt for a fabulous little vintage travel trailer! Wish me luck ;0)

Lions and Tigers and BEARS!

2010-07-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

SO last week Matt brought this home from work...

They got a call at 2am that a giant snake was loose and on someones driveway so they went and picked it up...the S.P.C.A wasnt open that late so Matt 'volunteered' to keep it until they found a place for it (Oh, goodie ;0)...a week and a rat later (feeding the snake was so sad!) we found a new home for Mr. Snake...He now lives HERE. After we dropped off the snake we took a look around the Wildlife Center and it was AWESOME! They had Lions, Tigers, Leopards, Jaguars, Cougars (WAY more other cool animals) AND......this little cutie! ;0)

Her name is Maddie and i amlost died when they let me go in and feed her!! Must be my lucky day ;0)

Recent Randomness

2010-07-17T22:18:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! I just wanted to let you know that i am still alive! :0) Little Easton (a.k.a. 'the boss') has been keeping me busy and entertained! He is getting SO BIG..he weighs a little more than 15lbs now and is 7weeks old! OH, and he is officially SMILING!!!! It is the most wonderful thing in the world to see my little boy smiling at me! Right now, he doesnt do it very often (ya gotta work for that smile) but i cant wait for him to be smiling all the time! :0) Here are some recent random pics of our cute little dude ♥

He is starting to get used to bath time...and hes already almost too big for his plastic baby tub!

...Takin a nap with daddy ;0)
He got to see his Aunt Tanya again and meet his Uncle Billy and Cousin Cole the other day! They were on their way home to Oregon and stayed with us for a night! It was SO FUN to see them and it was great having extra hands to hold Easton ;0) We miss youguys!

Cole giving his little cousin a kiss...so precious ♥

Easton loves to be outside so ive been trying to go for a walk with him everyday (once in the morning and once in the evening) Im trying to get rid of this spare tire pregnancy was so kind to leave behind and Easton loves his walks!..Its a win win situation ;0) Ive also been using my precious spare time to figure out my sewing machine! Here are a couple projects that ive done :0)

I made this cute little tie onesie for him and he looked so handsome at church (last week was the first time i was brave enough to take him and he did awesome!)
I kept seeing this cute little monster stuffed animal around blogland and i thought it was way cute..so i decided to make him!

After i made him, i was worried that he would scare my little guy, but that wasnt the case at all...its official, Easton has a new friend... and his name is Domo ;0)

I will try to update my blog more often because i really want to document how my little man is developing! I always notice that when people have babies or kids, they tend to totally take over their blog...it becomes all about them and folks, it looks like that is going to be the case for me...because life IS all about Easton ;0)

Adventures with Easton!

2010-07-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

I cant believe our little man is amost a month and a half old! He is gaining about a pound a week (he almost weighs 14lbs) and hes getting so big! It makes me sad and excited at the same time! He is growing so fast, ive been trying to take lots of pictures of him so i can remember how little he is! Here are a few recent random pics of Easton :0)

We went on our first couple of adventures with Easton recently...we went up to lake Almanor a couple of times to go fishing and do some much needed relaxing..here are some pix from the trips ♥

Sorry there wasnt a whole lot of writing in this post..its just a whole lot faster to tell a story with pictures these days (note: im using the precious few minutes i get while Easton is napping (finally) to blog, instead of clean, shower, eat etc.. ;0) I will leave you with a cute and very true quote ... "Moms with boys work from Son up to Son down."

A first

2010-06-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

This is Matts first Fathers Day. It has been so neat watching Matt turn in to the sweetest father to our little Easton. Our little boy is so lucky to have a such an amazing and loving daddy! Happy Fathers Day my love!

Also, id like to wish my awesome Father and Father-in-law a Happy Day as well.
I love youguys!!

Parenthood

2010-06-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

So im aware that ive been MIA for a while now...but in my defense, Im lucky to find the time to shower and eat these days let alone blog ;0) I am officially a mommy now and have been adjusting to all of the new responsibilities that come with being a new mom! Let me first tell you, its A LOT of hard work but very worth it! My little Easton (a.k.a the love of my life ;0) was born May 25, 2010 at 3am. He weighed 8 lbs and was 21 1/2 inches long! I love spending my days with this adorable little baby..who wouldnt?! Heres the story leading up to Eastons birth:

So my mom came up to visit/wait for Easton to make his grand debut.. we didnt know that he was planning on being a little late (he gets that from his mommy ;0) and my poor mom had to put up with me for a whole week before he was born! I was a crazy, impatient, emotional pregnant lady, mind you ;0) We had fun together though and passed the time going to garage/estate sales, putting puzzles together (yes, were dorks) and just hanging out! We did go hiking a couple of times and fishing a few days before i had little Easton (we were trying to get him to come out, with no luck!) Here are a few pre-Easton pics while my mom was here:

Alright SO my due date (May 23rd) had come and gone and still no Easton! On the 24th (Monday) at 7am, my doc had me check into the hospital for a procedure that would get me ready for labor because i wasnt really dilated at all yet and the doc wanted to get things moving because he thought the baby might be big and didnt want to wait too long.(longest sentence ever ;0) I was given a Cervidil injection and had to lay in bed for 12 hours! They let me go for an hour walk every other hour or so and that kept me somewhat sane...my mom and i found a cool trail to hike down and i started having some hard contractions while we were walking! I called Matt at work and told him to come to the hospital just in case something were to happen. So he joined the party ;0) My sister Tanya (who lives 8hrs away in Oregon) wanted to be here for Eastons arrival as well so i called her that afternoon and told her to hit the road because i thought Easton might be here soon. As we waited for my 12 hours to be up, i was hooked up to a monitor that checked the babys heartbeat and my contractions. Eastons heart rate was doing some crazy things..it was all over the chart and the nurses were getting concerned. When my 12 hours were up at around 9:30 pm, my doctor came to check my progress..or come to find out the lack thereof.. i was having a ton of contractions but the medicine didnt help me dialate at all!!The Doc decided to admit me (translation: stay in the hospital until the baby comes) because he was concerned about Eastons irregular heartbeat as well and wanted to be monitor it just in case. Its a good thing he decided to do that because around 2am, Eastons heart rate went crazy and the doc said that the baby might be in distress. So he wanted to go ahead and do a c-section on me. It was a feeling that ive never felt before, i was excited, worried and terrified all at the same time. Excited to finally get to hold my little one, worried that something might go wrong and terrified about getting my stomach cut open! My sister Tanya arrived just in time to be there for everything!

Once it was time for the surgery the whole thing happened so fast. The nurses gave Matt a sexy little number to wear..check it out ;0)

and wheeled me into the operating room. Matt wasnt in there yet and I was SO scared going into that room full of strangers with sharp instruments all by myself...it kind of felt like a scary dream to me. They gave me a shot in my back which didnt hurt that bad and i went numb almost immediately. I had a reaction from the shot and started shaking because of it..the fact that it was also freezing in there probably didnt help either ;0) They put a tarp over me so i couldnt see what was going on and started prepping me for the surgery..i was super nervous/scared..i thought they were going to start opperating before Matt could get there but he came in and i was SO relieved to see him and have him by my side! Having a C-section was the wierdest feeling ever! I was totally awake and although i couldnt feel any of the pain (thank goodness!) i could feel the pressure as they made the insicion and i could actually feel them tug Easton out of my stomache! Once he was out, we heard the doctor say '..Thats why..' (Later we found out that the cord was wrapped around his neck) and seconds later we heard the most beautiful sound in the whole world..our little Easton crying! A wave of relief and emotion came over me as we heard and saw our new little baby! I will never forget that feeling and at that moment everything i had been through was 100% worth it! Soon after he was born, Matt and the nurse took him to our room (where my mom and sister were anxiously waiting) for him to be weighed, measured and all of that good stuff. I wasnt able to see it because i was getting stiched up and put back together but my sister Tanya videoed it all for me to watch later.. thank you Tans :0)

So Matt and i ended up staying in the hospital until Thursday (3days) while we got used to our new little family and i recovered. My mom and siser came by everyday to entertain/keep us company and of course admire little Easton :0) When they werent hanging out with us in the hospital they were at our house making it spick and span for us when we came home..THANK YOUGUYS! I miss my cleaning fairies! ;0)

Tanya was even kind enough to paint my toenails...which i hadent been able to reach myself for a few months ;0)

Speaking of feet, check out these toes! He definitely has his mommys feet ;0)

We had some good times and let me just say, you know its love when someone caries your catheter bag for you..ill leave it at that ;0) I have to say that Matt has to be the best daddy EVER! He changed 90% of the diapers while we were in the hospital and up until he went back to work (which was yesterday) and is just so sweet with little Easton! Here is Easton lifting his head already in the hospital...thats my boy! ;0)

When we took Easton home, Grandma and Grandpa Gates came up to see their first grandson..it was love at first sight ♥

Alot of time was spend ~~fighting over~~ holding the little man ;0) jk He is very loved ♥

He is such a good baby and he even let me take some cute newborn pictures of him! Such a good sport already ;0) Feast your eyes on his cuteness! ♥ My super talented sister made the adorable munchkin hat for his photoshoot...shes got some mad skillz!

The girlz decided to take a few pictures too ;0)

It was so nice having family around to share this special time with us! Our visitors left on Memorial Day and Matt had a birthday a few days later! Happy 28th birthday mi ammore! ♥ This is what i got him for his birthday this year...I made it myself ;0)

Anyways, if you cant tell, we are thrilled about our new little Son! We both would do anything for this little guy and never knew we could fall in love so quickly ♥ Thank you for all of your well wishes!

...Worth Celebrating

2010-05-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

My gorgeous mother..

This is an oldie of my mom and i ♥

This Mothers Day has more meaning for me than ever before.....i will be a mother soon! I was kinda hoping that Easton would want to come out ON Mothers Day {wouldnt that be awesome!?} but i wont hold my breath ;0) Funny memory: Growing up, at church on Mothers Day, all of the moms got to stand up after Sacrament Meeting and the kids would pass out a flower to each of them...i remember thinking to myself '...I cant wait until im a mom and i get a flower too!' I have the best mom though..~~i would steal~~ she would always end up giving me her flower anyway {thanks for putting up with me!} Anywho, I love my Mother and cant wait to be one myself soon! Im so blessed to have a wonderful Mother and Mother-in-law to get advice from ;0) Happy Mothers Day everyone! {The pic below is of my Mother-in-law with Matt (my hubby) and Andrew.. Matt is kissing his new little brother...precious!}

I am Full Term!

2010-05-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

Our stroller and carseat were still untouched in their boxes the other day so we decided to assemble them. After they were assembled we attempted to figure out exactly how to use them..we started fumbling around with the straps, handles and plastic buttons trying to figure out how to actually use the stuff... Funny conversation went something like this:

Me: 'We should find something to use as a baby in the carseat for practice!'
Matt: 'yeah, thats a good idea.''
(we pause trying to think of something that would work)
Matt: 'dont you have any dolls?'
Me: 'uhhh.....no.'
Matt: ' but youre a girl '
Me: 'yeah..and im also not five!'

I just thought that was kinda funny...apparently all girls should own a doll regardless of their age ;0) Heres the closest thing i could find:

NOW were ready ;0) jk

SO i am officially full term now..which means i could have Easton anytime and it would be fine...its so crazy to think about. I will be a mom in 3 weeks or less! Its so close and I still cant quite wrap my head around it! I havent gotten the crazy cleaning bug like i was hoping i would but Ive been 'nesting' my own way! I have been going to yard/estate sales like crazy and doing lots of crafts and projects which is the opposite of nesting because im actually making my house messier! ;0) Its like i know i wont have much time to do these things once Easton is here so ive been keeping very busy! I still need to pack for the hospital...what am i supposed to bring besides clothes for me and Easton, and a camera OH and my husband? ;0) Is there something that i should bring that isnt the obvious? I am definitely ready to get this little guy out..i do realize that the easy part was carrying the baby..the hard part will getting the little guy OUT..and i must admit that im just a little frightened! My doc said that if Easton is too big (which he might be) then i will have to do a C-section..ive heard some horror stories so if youve had a Csection and it wasnt that bad, let me know ;0)

Featured!

2010-04-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

My very first feature ever is on an awesome blog called Better After. I was so stoked to see my front room re-do on there!! I couldnt help but do a little happy dance :0) Check out the post by clicking on her button...and check out all of the other awesome re-dos on the site!

No Touchie!

2010-04-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

Raise your hand if you think its weird when strangers come up to you and touch your belly (while pregnant) or your new little baby?! Its one thing when people you know do it (doesnt bother me at all!) but when some ~~smelly~~ random person at Walmart comes up to you to cop a feel of your baby bump thats a different story! What are people thinking..who does that?! I can only imagine how it feels for strange people to bombard your new little baby! The thought of it makes me cringe! I just found this on one of the awesome sites that i frequent..and ive got to make me one of these babies!

..And she calls it the 'The Greeter Deterrent.' Hilarious! :0) Check out the tutorial HERE...and make me one while youre at it ;0) jk

My Lucky Day

2010-04-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

Ive been in love with this crib set for a while now...

..the only problem is...Target stopped selling this particular set (just my luck.) So consequently, ive been looking for similar fabric to make my own crib set but havent found quite what i wanted yet...Today as i was browsing a local thrift store..i saw it. The crib bumber of my dreams!...for THREE DOLLARS!! I almost did the happy dance right there in the store..the funny thing is, there was a lady looking at it so i had to give her the stink eye so she would leave it alone!..Im just kidding...kind of ;0) Anywho, i just had to share! I still plan on making a solid yellow or red crib skirt to match the bumper..its on my neverending to-do list :0) I hope you are having a fabulous day ♥

I Heart Vintage Fans

2010-04-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

So lately ive been going to estate/yard sales and getting some RAD stuff or as my husband would call it...JUNK ;0) Yesterday at a yard sale i scored some awesome junk! I got this super old fan that was really rusty and dirty for $3 and i also got this rad vintage lamp for..get this...FREE!!

It was really dirty/nasty but has lots of potential :0) Ive already re-finished the cool vintage fan..check out the befores and afters on this baby ;0)
BEFORE:

AFTER:

..not bad for $3.. I already had the spray paint on hand so this project was super cheap! Surprisingly, the fan still works great too which will come in handy pretty soon...its starting to warm up quite a bit here in Paradise!

Im linking this project here:

K9 Adventures!

2010-04-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

So The other day, Matt went to help out with an Oroville K9 Unit demonstration at an elementary school..when i say 'help out' i mean he volunteered to wear this..

..and do this..

Its called being an 'agitator.' Hes done it before and it was fun to actually see him do it this time :0) I must admit that i was a little nervous at first though..those dogs mean business! The kids loved it!..it was fun listening to the presentation. Officer Sanzone did a good job explaining the K9 Unit to all of them :0)

..Meet Bosco..hes been an OPD K9 for a few years now.. Sanzone is his partner :0)

Meet Z-bo..Hes the newbie..hes been an OPD K9 for 5-6 months i think...Dave is his partner :0)

Anywho, im glad that Matt works with such a good group of officers and it comforts me to know that these dogs have his back as well ;0) In other news...im getting HUGE..not cute-huge either..im starting to resemble this guy! ;0)

I cant believe i only have a month or less left and i will be a mommy! We are so looking forward to it! Well...not the delivery part but the having our baby boy to take care of part ;0) I havent taken a lamaze class yet (im a slacker) and dont think i will...im just gunna wing it ;0) I will try to keep you posted!

Front Room Before and After!

2010-04-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

So life has been pretty crazy over here but thats just how i like it ;0) We just recently got new carpet installed in our house (by recently i mean a couple days ago ;0) which is great considering how nasty/frightening the old stuff was! The front room was all tile...that looked like cheap bathroom tile.Nice. So we my husband and his dad had fun ripping all of that out for the carpet! Thanks guys! Anywho, so you get the full experience i will show you a few before and after pics ;0) These first ones are how we 'inherited' the front room..warning: these might hurt your eyes a little! ;0)
BEFORE

This is what it looks like NOW...after we removed wallpaper, painted the walls and the fireplace, built a mantel and got new carpet! The room isnt completely finished yet (almost) but its lookin a little better than it did ;0)
AFTER

What do you think?! We also tiled a little 5ft by 7ft entryway by the front door. It was my first attempt at tiling and i love how it turned out! Matt and i layed the tiles and i grouted it all by myself while he was at work! I will just show you a few close ups of the tile...you can see the whole thing after we get new baseboards..cause the picture will look better ;0)

Matt and i enjoy fixing up our place..we like to call it 'sweat equity.'

Crafty...the new Nesting!

2010-04-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

Ive been ~~nesting~~ crafting alot lately...i dont think you can call it nesting b/c nesting usually means cleaning and my house is still a mess! At least its a crafty mess ;0) I saw this cute nest idea here and decided to give it a go myself :0) Heres the finished result...

(Dont you just love nests?!) Instead of using a plaque and premade nests like she did on the tutorial , i spray painted/distressed an old frame i had lying around and made my own nest out of moss! I used burlap as the backing, hot glued my nest on it at glued in some cute little blue robin eggs i found super cheap at Michaels :0) End result, a cute little decoration!

The other day, i stumbled accross these darling wreaths on someones Etsy shop! I think i will attempt to make one soon!

Arent they fabulous?? Wish me luck ♥

Hoppy Easter!

2010-04-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

We wish you all a Happy Easter! ♥

My Maternity Pics (revised)

2010-03-19T16:32:00.001-07:00

So yesterday i talked my husband into taking some pictures of me and our baby ;0) I think they turned out pretty good considering we took them ourselves! Here are a few of my faves :0)
Note: I got the impression that some might think these pics are too personal..so i took a few out.

Easton Matthew Gates ♥

05.23.2010

Shelf Tutorial

2010-03-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

This is a tutorial on how to build these fun bookshelves that i posted about the other day!

Ive never done one of these before but here goes ;0)
What you will need:

~WOOD! board sizes: 1' 4, 1' 3 & 1' 2. (i got the 10' long ones so that i had enough to make 2 shelves. My shelves are 45' long.)

~Wood Glue..i personally like Gorilla Glue.

~Finishing nails

~Caulk and paint

What to Do:
~Cut each board to your desired size..if you want 45' shelves, cut each board 45' long.

~Use wood glue to glue the pieces together...like this:

Note: the widest board (1' 4) goes on the bottom.
~Let that dry for about an hour..
~I found this next step to be the hardest..nailing them together. It made me wish that i had a nail gun! Anywho, just take your finishing nails and nail the boards together...i did like 5 nails per side.

Now, it should now look something like this..

~Now you just have to caulk the cracks/ let that dry/ and then paint! (I ended up doing 2 coats) Then you are finished! Have fun :0)

Cool Blogging Tip!

2010-03-19T09:11:00.000-07:00

If youve seen the blogs with big beautiful pictures in their posts and you want in, go HERE. There is an awesome tutorial on how to customize your picture sizes! There are a few ways to do it however, all i did was updated my 'Post Editor'..which i should have done like...yesterday! Who knew there was an Updated version?! To change yours, click on 'Settings'--scroll down the page until you see 'Select Post Editor' choose 'Updated Editor' and then 'Save'...you will be glad you did!..it is RAD. Now when you upload a picture into your posts you now have an 'extra large' picture option which is way bigger and better than the old option. There is also another way to edit your pics (if youre ~~hard to please~~ still not happy with the bigger size ;0) You can edit your post pictures in HTML as well..again, the awesome tutorial for that is here :0) If you end up doing this, let me know how you like it!! Have a fabulous day ♥

Crafty

2010-03-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

Ive been getting the crafty itch lately!...i think its my version of nesting ;0)
A few days ago, i made these bookshelves (all by myself) for Eastons room! It was pretty easy to do and im happy with the outcome...even more happy with the price! They came out to be like 5 or 6 dollars each...sure beats paying 20 bucks a pop! ;0)

I also painted these cool giant buttons...

And put them up on the wall ♥

Happy St Pattys Everyone!

2010-03-17T17:40:00.001-07:00

Matt and i didnt even realize that today was St Pattys day til this afternoon {Pretty Sad!} Dont worry...Matt got his pinch for not wearing green ;0) Anywho, i found a good sugar cookie recipe on this awesome blog and it looked so yummy i had to make some of my own! I even talked Matt into helping me ♥

I didnt have a shamrock cookie cutter so stars were the next best thing :0) And of course they had to be GREEN!

Here...Have a cookie ♥

..and a happy St. Pattys day to ya!

Spring is here!

2010-03-14T11:01:00.001-07:00

I love Springtime. Everything is so fresh ♥ This is our first spring in our new house so weve been excited to see what kind of flowers will bloom in our yard! Just recently, weve gotten a little glimpse of whats starting to bloom...i dont know the names of the flowers, yet but here are some pictures of some of the lovelies ;0)

..i know these arent flowers, but they are pretty none the less..and appropriate for the coming holiday ;0)

We have an awesome garden area in our backyard with 6 giant built in planters! It is covered in weeds right now but will soon be a plentiful garden...that is, if i can keep these guys from eating and destroying our freshly planted plants (true story.) Any suggestions? Look! I found a dirty little puppy in my garden ;0)

Penelope and Daisy are ~~partners in crime~~ best friends ;0)

Spring has also given us oranges...lots of oranges! (not all shown)

We have two little orange bushes in our front yard and they gave us over a hundred oranges! We had so many, that we didnt know what to do with them SO...we made juice!

mmm...theres nothing like fresh orange juice ♥ Well, i hope you all are enjoying the Spring weather and getting some fresh air..i know i am ;0)

Baby Shower!

2010-03-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone :0) ive finally ~~finished being lazy~~ recovered enough to blog about my recent trip to my hometown (Bakersfield) for my baby shower! After the grueling 6hour drive it was nice to sit back and relax with my family..my sister treated my mom and i to pedicures {i hadnt had one since i was in beauty school..i felt bad for my lady! ;0)

Heres the finished product..well worth the pain of getting my skin filed off and stabbed multiple times in the toe! LOL Oh, and mine are the big puffy prego feet if youre wondering ;0)

*Random thought: I read somewhere that your feet actually get bigger during pregnancy sometimes..that worries me a little considering im already a size 10! Yikes!
My shower was on Saturday {the 6th} and i was pleased that lots of old friends and familiar faces showed up to support me ♥ It was so fun to visit with everyone! We ate yummy food and played some fun games! Here are some pics from the day...and for some reason, my moms camera took ~~crappy~~ fuzzy pictures so i apologize!

..playing a nursery rhyme game :0)

My Grandma and seesters ♥

Opening presents...i got tons of good stuff a.k.a 'loot' and little Easton will definitely be well dressed ;0)

Easton's stroller

Thank you everyone for coming to my shower and for your support ♥

That night i went to an old friends wedding reception..it was beautiful..and so was the bride :0) I got to see a bunch of people that i havent seen in a long time so it was fun to catch up! The next couple days were spent just 'chillin' with family..here i am giving my sister a hair cutting 'lesson'..her husband Jacob was such a good model ;0)

Heres a couple of my neices ♥

here we are out for icecream ♥

The next morning i headed back home to see my hubby that i 'abandoned' for 5 days..its good to know that i was missed ♥ I always have such a good time with my family! Thanks for everything!

New Memories

2010-02-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

SO..i had a blast visiting with my mom and seesters! We did all sorts of things and it was great spending some quality time with a few of my favorite people ♥ We went to see my sister Tanya and her little family in Oregon and lucked out on the weather...it was beautiful! We spent the day at Newport beach...here are some random pics from that day..good times!
Newport Beach!
My beautiful sisters ♥

{...Dont ask}...i realize we all look quite hideous in this pic, but it was too hilarious not to post! :0)
Me and Tanya

Playing in the sand :0)
Here are some belly pics ♥...my little Easton is growing like a weed! And so am I for that matter ;0)

Eating lunch at Joes

Me and my beautiful momma :0)

On the pier..
While we were in Oregon, my gradparents came down to see us for the day!..it was so good to spend some time with them..i hadnt seen them since my wedding so it was a treat! We chatted and played cards all day...good times!
Me, my mom and grandma Bigelow ♥
The crew ;0)
being silly...what we do best ;0)

I was sad to see my grandparents go but so glad that we got to hang out with them a little! The rest of our visit was spent shopping, herding children around, playing games, watching lame chick flicks and laughing...lots of laughing! :0) After our visit in Oregon we came back to some not so good weather in NorCal..it was nice to see my hubby when i got home though! I think this was the longest time that we've been apart! We went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant here and played card games all night. We even attempted making home made ice cream and it was a success! {my grandparents recipe}..SO yummy!

I also taught my sister Tara how to make some metal stamped jewelry..good times :0)

I love spending time with my family and wish they lived closer to me! Anywho, it was sad to see them go but im so glad we got to make some new memories together that we will cherish forever ♥
The End ♥

Road Trippin'

2010-02-16T11:09:00.000-08:00

Today my mom and my sister Tara are coming up for a visit! I ♥ visitors! Then we are all driving to Oregon to visit my sis Tanya!...Gotta love road trips..this should be an adventure ;0) Here is an oldie but goody pic of us girls when we were little ♥

Gotta love old pics ;0) Oh, and im having a ~~bridal~~ baby shower on March 6th!...you are welcome to come! Give me your address if you want to join us! :0)

What a DEAL!

2010-02-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

So, Im gunna let you in on a little secret...Utter Covers is having a special where if you buy one of their supercute nursing cover packages and enter in the code: VALENTINE at checkout, it only costs you FIVE bucks plus shipping!...AWESOME! These things are usually $32 plus shipping! Ya gotta love a good bargain ;0)
I bought this one for myself..i ♥ the pattern! Its not very 'boyish' but im sure little Easton wont mind ;0)

So if you or someone you know is having a wee one, you should take advantage of it because it ends March 1st!
P.S...i never thought id get excited about nursing covers! LOL
P.S.S...i plan on learning how to make these myself eventually so i can give them as gifts! But FIRST, i must learn how to use my sewing machine! ;0)

Happy Valentines Day ♥

2010-02-12T17:11:00.000-08:00

Im A-Okay!

2010-02-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

Hello friends :0) For those of you who are wondering how im doing (and are very sweet by the way ♥) I am happy to report that im doing just fine :0) The doctors cant really figure out what is causing the contractions/cramps but the baby is doing great, im not in labor...yet, and Easton is having fun playing soccer in my stomach ;0) Im still in pain every now and then but i can deal with it as long as its not hurting my baby boy! (which im told it isnt.) Pregnancy is/can be a scary thing...especially when you have no idea what is going on with your own body! It is also an awesome adventure! I am getting a huge bump (dont worry, i will take pics soon) and people are actually starting to notice that im pregnant..which is fun! People are so much nicer to you when you are preggers ;0) Anywho, for those of you who care, i just wanted to let you know that im good! Have a fabulous day! ♥

Whats in a name?

2010-01-30T12:37:00.000-08:00

So today i made this necklace...i think you can guess the name ~~that i~~ we've picked ;0)

Its been difficult for me us to choose a name..because there are so many and names are kind of a big deal...they stick with you for-ev-er! So ive been looking for a name that wasnt very common but also wasnt weird (youd be amazed at the crazy stuff you see in baby name books/sites! Like 'Who in their right mind would name their kid ....................?!?') Anywho i think we have found a winner ;0) We havent decided on a middle name yet but we still have a few months to figure it out! SO, ive been in and out of the hospital lately..my pregnancy has been cake up til' a few days ago...contractions...very painful contractions. I didnt think it was normal to have those (at 23 weeks) so i went to the docs, they did some tests and put me on bedrest until they figure out whats wrong (which hopefully they will soon (im supposed to work on monday!) So im going to be 'taking it easy' this weekend. Has anyone else experienced gut-wrenching contractions/cramps in their 5th month of pregnancy?? Any advice is welcome ;0)

A year older

2010-01-12T20:31:00.000-08:00

o i am a year older now..the ripe age of 24 to be exact. My birthday was on Jan 8th and i definitely feel a little older...which usually i dont..maybe its because im going to be a mommy in a few months..in fact, i know thats why ;0) We went to Fort Bragg..it was nice to get away and explore somewhere we've never been!

We took our children with us..(aka our dogs) and they had a blast running in the sand, playing in the water and eating things they probably shouldnt (aka nasty fly-infested seaweed!) Crazy dogs! Here they are in action..

We also went to a place called Glass Beach. The sand looked like this..

Isnt it pretty?! I spent about an hour collecting cool glass rocks (yes, im a nerd ;0) And we did a little tide-pool exploring..

..a seal even posed for matts picture ;0)

Anywho, that was our beach trip in a nutshell...good times!
And a quick BABY UPDATE...Hes been moving around like CRAZY in there! Ive been able to feel him move for a couple of weeks now and i think its the coolest thing in the world! He likes to move alot at night while im in bed..i love it ♥
A week or so ago matt and took the kids for a walk at the flumes...here are some pics from that adventure..

Daisy and Penny are buddies..its really cute!

and speaking of cute ♥

Thats all folks ♥

Christmas and some randomeness

2009-12-30T21:59:00.000-08:00

so this year for Christmas Matt and i got to go home and be with our awesome families! Matt had to work on Christmas Eve (poor baby) so i decided to leave a couple days before him...and since i didnt want to drive 2 cars down there and drive 2 cars home, i decided to take the train...yes, the train. I say it that way, because i have never been a fan of public transportation...it frightens me a little :0) The only previous experience that ive had on the train was years ago...and i got ROBBED while i was taking a nap..SO i was hoping that this trip would turn out better..and it did, however, i still had to endure being sandwiched between complete strangers ~~who smelled funny~~ for 8 hours..not so awesome. Its a miracle that i didnt contract the swine flu or some other disease from being around so many people. BUT i finally made it to good ol' Bakersfield and was relieved to see some familiar faces! I spent Christmas Eve with my family and we had a nice dinner and did the traditional family Christmas program..which consists of singing Christmas songs, a couple musical performances and the 'Santa Letter' read by my dad :0)

Matt drove to Bakersfield after work (2 AM) on Christmas morning and got there around 9..my poor hubby was exhausted, but i was so happy to see him! He was my favorite Christmas present ♥

Santa spoiled him for all of his hard work by getting him a PS3! What was Santa thinking?! ;0)

He got me a nice flash for my camera and some other cool things! Penelope enjoyed her first Christmas with the family..here she is with my dad.

I was bummed that my sister Tanya couldnt make it down this year.. but she made us these awesome blankets! Thanks Tans ♥

My other sibs had great present ideas this year...my sis Tara put all of our family home videos onto CDs and my brother Thad made us a cool cookbook full of our grandmas awesome recipes! I need to step it up next year ;0)

After that, we went over to Matt's parents house and spent the day with them..We opened gifts and hung out..it was so nice to relax and chat with everyone! Thanks for the awesome gifts guys! ♥ SO while i was in Bakersfield, i think my belly grew twice the size! Its crazy how fast im growing! Heres a pic of the belly :0)

On Saturday we all went to Rosemarys...For those of you who dont know, Rosemarys just so happens to be the BEST icecream place EVER! I always get their ginormous banana split..it makes me happy ♥ Heres the crew..

One night we were all invited to my brothers house for a yummy dinner...afterwards, little Sammy got his very first haircut ♥

And my grandma got one too :0)

After dinner, Matt and i went to the Gates house, had some icecream and played games until midnight..Good times! And i would have pics of matts fam...if they would let me take them that is ;0) The next day was time to pack up and go (my least favorite part.) We did run a few fun errands and hung out with everyone a little before we left..i was sad to leave but so glad we got to be there for Christmas ♥ Love youguys! Oh and here are some random pics from Matts work Christmas party..it was at a casino and was really fun!

Sorry Ruben ;0)

I hope y'all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ♥

Nursery Progress!

2009-12-17T15:02:00.000-08:00

so Matt and i are SO EXCITED that we are having a baby boy ♥ The ultrasound was an awesome experience and it was so cool to see our little guy moving around in there! Here are some pics from the ultrasound...sorry about the quality though..our scanner is ~~a piece of junk~~ old :0)

(Click pics for bigger image)

i can already tell that he's going to be handsome ♥

Its a boy...heres the proof ;0)

In fact, we are so excited about our new addition that weve been working on the nursery.. alot! Its not finished yet but i LOVE it so far! here is a nasty 'before' picture of the room...
and the much improved Afters!

Here is the crib we bought..

We installed a cool light fixture with a dimmer switch..so the baby wont be wide awake (blinded by light) when i come in to feed him at 2am..which i am stoked about :0)

I found this awesome/supernice changing table for only $60 on craigsligt...love it! P.S..im so glad i went with white furniture ♥

Some cute things. Note: that little bear was Matts when he was a baby :0)

I know a girl that makes these..now i am determined to learn how..SO cute ♥

i found these cute abc flash cards at target.com...

i ♥ sock monkeys ;0)

So that is our nursery progress..i think its coming along quite nicely :0) Now...all we need is a baby ♥

We are having A........

2009-12-12T13:31:00.000-08:00

.......................................Girl or Boy?....................................

.......................................Girl or Boy?....................................

.......................................Girl or Boy?....................................

.......................................Girl or Boy?....................................

.......................................Girl or Boy?....................................

.......................................Girl or Boy?....................................

.......................................Girl or Boy?....................................

.......................................Girl or Boy?....................................

And we are SO excited!!!! ♥

Our 'other' Thanksgiving!

2009-12-04T20:57:00.000-08:00

sO Matt had to work on Thanksgiving day, but we didnt let that ruin the holiday! We had a little Thanksgiving dinner of our own at the Police Department and it was fabulous! Everyone brought something (kind of like a pot-luck) and Dave (one of the other officers) cooked up some delicious turkey and ham! Good times! Im glad that my husband works with such a great group of guys! I brought my camera but the card wasnt in it so...yeah, no pics unfortunately..BUT we did bring something home with us that day and it wasnt leftovers..........

...meet Penelope!
I know...were crazy..but isnt she just the cutest?! Shes such a sweetie and so fun to have around ♥

The End

3 Years

2009-11-25T22:29:00.000-08:00

t
hree years ago, today...i married my best friend.

What a lucky girl i am to have such a wonderful husband who ~~puts up with me~~ loves me so much ;0) ♥ I look forward to a lifetime with my favorite person!
I love you Matt.

♥ Happy Anniversary ♥

White OR black?

2009-11-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

SO, i am having a difficult time deciding on what color nursery furniture to get...we just painted the nursery a nice gender neutral aqua blue color and im not sure if i want to get white furniture or black furniture?! So a little help and suggestions here would be much appreciated! ;0)

I like white because our nursery is small and i think white furniture would make the room seem a little bigger however i also wonder if white stuff would get dirty super fast and be a pain to clean all.the.time. I am also a fan of classic black. I think it looks good and might be easier to keep clean as well but i dont want it to make the room seem smaller...which it may or may not do..anyways, if you have some imput on the subject i would love to hear it :0)

Baby Update!

2009-11-19T17:30:00.000-08:00

SO i am a little over 3 months now and im feeling pretty good. Im officially past the first trimester and I think ive been pretty lucky with my pregnancy so far because im not sick all the time..i get sick sometimes but not enough to slow me down....that much anyway ;0) However, I must admit that while pregnant, its harder to find the energy or motivation to tackle the home improvement projects that need to be done around here..i guess Matt will have to do all the work ;0) jk So the doc said that i will be able to find out if we are having a boy or girl in a couple of weeks...we are SUPER excited about that! Alot of people keep telling me that 'you should wait and let it be a surprise' but.....wheres the fun in that?! It would be more like torture! Patience is definitely not one of my virtues :0) What do YOU think i will have? ;0) Anywho, i know we dont know what we are having yet, but ive been dying to start on the nursrey!!! I have found quite a few cute ideas online but cant quite decide...i might just combine a bunch of these cute ideas into one room :0)

Tell me which ideas you liked the best! ♥

An Early Thanksgiving ♥

2009-11-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

My family came up for a quick visit and it was a delight having them here! We did a few fun things while they were up here but most of our time was spent just relaxing and spending some quality time together :0) Here we are at the park down the street. This is my bro Andrew and his wife Yana..im glad they got to come up and see us too!

Here we are playin some B-ball! Skillz people..skillz ;0)

We gave them the tour de Paradise and went to Paradise Lake where we had an intense rock-skipping contest ;0) Heres my hubby and his wonderful parentals!

Since Matt will be working on Thanksgiving and we had family in town we decided to have Thanksgiving early this year! I didnt take a whole lot of pictures of the food prepping adventures but heres Matt with the bird (not cooked yet)..yummayyyy :0)

While we waited for dinner to cook, we taught the fam how to play Bocce ball in our front yard..because you are not cool until you learn how to play Bocce ;0)

Battle of the brothers :0)

After our game we had our Thanksgiving dinner together..and it was scrumptious!!

It was so fun to spend time with our family..i hope they had as good a time as we did! Thanks for coming up guys, we love you and miss you already! Come back soon :0) SO...my rule has always been to start decorating for Christmas after Thanksgiving...and since we had ours early............ ;0)

Halloween Fun!

2009-11-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

So, i had to work on Halloween unfortunately however i didnt let it ruin my day and of course i dressed up! ;0)

..every good witch needs a cat sidekick ;0)

...it was easy and semi-comfortable costume for work. (The heels lasted for approximately two haircuts..good thing i brought some comfy shoes just in case ;0) My awesome husband brought me lunch at work and bought a good scary movie for us to watch that night...The Decent.

Dont be fooled by the nasty cover...this movie is by far the SCARIEST movie ive seen in a LONG time! I DARE anyone who is brave enough to rent this movie and watch it! I am 100% sure it would scare.you.to.death!

In fact...i double dare ya!

Another Kitchen Update!

2009-10-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

So we installed a new backsplash a while ago and it looks great! i just havent posted about it because my kitchen has been too messy to take a picture of it...until today that is ;0) Here are some befores...This first one is how we inherited our kitchen...

After we painted the cabinets and installed new hardware...
..Check out that hideous tile backsplash...Scary!

and some new and improved afters!...(With our new DIY backsplash!)

I also made a chalkboard out of an antique mirror i bought at a thrift store for $2...heres the before pic of that..

...and after ♥

Here is our sink area (Matt installed a new faucet.)
My silly kitty...i ♥ her

Thats all folks!

Our latest outdoor excursions..

2009-10-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we went to a place called Black Rock. We heard it was a cool place and we wanted to see how the truck would do on a nice bumpy dirt road...and im glad to report that it did famously! ;0)

It was SO pretty there and we saw like 1,000 deer on the way! Well, it was more like 50 but thats alot!! On our way up we came across this indian shrine thingy on the edge of a cliff...(Ishi indians use to live up there..i heard that some still do!) I couldnt decide if it was cool or creepy..you be the judge!

Here are some pictures of the area..

and this is Black Rock...

its basically a ginormous.black.rock.

Mill Creek ran through the area so we decided to get our line wet and do a little hiking! However, we didnt stay long because it was getting dark (we got there kinda late) AND i was told by a reliable source that there was a large population of 'cats' up there a.k.a. mountain lions...so we hit the road ;0) It was fun though and we found a cool campground there so we will definitely be back! Now for our other outdoor outing... a couple days ago we were driving around the area and found a dirt road on my handy-dandy GPS that apparently crossed the river.. so we decided to explore. It was a steep windy road down the canyon. It was gorgeous outside and a great day for exploring :0) ...20 min down the road this is what we found!

I couldnt resist the urge to fish!

Matts photography skillz ;0)

We are glad we found a good spot to fish so close! We also found a fire lookout tower on the top of a super tall mountain which i am dying to go check out...maybe another day! Thats all folks!

Tradition!

2009-10-27T16:19:00.000-07:00

i heart carving pumpkins...always have! SO,everytime Halloween rolls around Matt and i always make sure we carve pumpkins together!

My handsome hubby...

Yours truly...

..the Lu decided to come help...

..and i decided to give her KISSES!!! :0)

We picked out pumpkin patterns from this book that i had. It rated the difficulty of the patterns..1= easiest..5= hardest. I picked an easy one (a 2) and Matt picked the hardest one (a 5) I finished mine in no time and got to listen to Matt grumble and complain for an hour..heheh Love you Matt! ;0) Needless to say, his hard work paid off..his looked WAY better than mine! Here is the finished result!

Can you guess which one is mine? ;0)
Thats all folks!

Im Back!

2009-10-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

Its been a while..and BOY do i have alot of catching up to do! In my defense, life has been a little crazy around these parts lately and isnt slacking what a pregnant woman does best? ;0) Lets see..about a month ago, the parentals and my sister Tara came up to visit us in our new place!

We had such a great time together and it was SO nice having some family around for a change ♥
In the morning, we walked over to the park down the street from our casa for 'Johnny Appleseed Days' :0)

It was a charming little annual fair with lots of stuff to look at and loads of yummy food!

At the fair, my dad put me in a quilt drawing and i won three of them! It was quite exciting :0)

Apparently i needed some more blankets in the house anyway b/c everyone 'froze' at night! My sister got so cold in the middle of the night that she searched our house for some more blankets and only found towels...so the next morning she was covered in towels like a bum!..A sight i will not soon forget ;0) LOL! Sorry guys! Needless to say the next couple nights were ALOT warmer!

We also went to Deer Creek for a picnic and a little fishing..it was way colder than we anticipated so we made a fire...without matches might i add!...Skillz people...skills ;0)

Heres me freezing by our table :0)

Gettin' my line wet...

Dad picking a fly to use...

There were a TON of pictures taken but i forgot to steal them off of my moms camera before she left! Boooo! Anyways i have the most awesome family ever and im so happy that i got to hang out with them for a little while! Come back soon ♥

My handsome Gardener ♥

2009-10-25T14:00:00.000-07:00

Matt has been doing a great job with keeping the yard looking nice..so i let him get a new toy ;0) Here is Matts new lawn mower!

It was kind of fun picking out our very first lawnmower together! Good times :0)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

Guess WHAT?

2009-09-22T15:45:00.000-07:00

{Click on the Image!}

Id like you to meet...

2009-09-12T10:05:00.001-07:00

..the newest member of the Gates family! We love our new (much needed) truck :0)

And heres a peek at what we've been up to ;0)

I will show you the rest when ~~we clean up the livingroom/warzone~~ its done ;0)
Even LuLu got in on the fun (note the paint on her little paw)...bad kitty! ;0)

Thats all folks!

Our Kitchen Re-do!

2009-09-07T13:48:00.001-07:00

I must say all of our hard work is starting to pay off...i like our kitchen alot more now ;0) Here are the before pictures...

Drum roll please..................................

...............................................................

..............................................................

AFTER! ♥

Isnt it amazing what i little paint, elbow grease and determination will do? ;0) We arent completely done with it though...we need to replace that ~~abomination~~ backsplash and put in some baseboards SO there will be more pictures... Let me know what you think so far!

Thats all folks!

Home Sweet Home

2009-09-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

Its official!

We have been in our new home for a few weeks now and we couldnt be ~~busier~~ happier :0) First id like to say that being a homeowner is ALOT of work! I knew there would be alot to do but.....wow! The first thing we decided to tackle so to speak is the kitchen and i must say that its coming together quite nicely :0) We have stripped the wallpaper (which was a ~~pain in the butt~~ tedious task) and painted the ceiling, walls and cabinets (which look fabulous by the way ;0) I also took the liberty of ripping out all of the crusty/ugly baseboards! Here we are ~~making a mess~~ working ;0)

One wall done(almost)...six more to go! ;0)

~~Matt~~ We decided to buy this really ~~expensive~~ handy paint sprayer ;0) It turned out to be worth it because it made the job alot easier. Here is matt in action!

and here are some pictures of the warzone ;0)

After we painted, we added some new fixtures and of course our new stainless steel refrigerator and dish washer! Matt and i were SO excited to get our very own fridge..its fabulous! All we need to do now is get rid of the backsplash ~~what were they thinking~~ and replace the baseboards and we should be good. Dont worry, I will post before and after pictures soon ;0) I cant wail til its done so i can start decorating it! SPEAKING of decorating i went antiquing/ thrifting today and made out like a bandit i tell you! Here are my finds!

First i found this cool antique coffee table that just needs a new coat of paint for just $35..THEN i found my new favorite thrift store! Do you see all of the things on my new coffee table and that super awesome antique mirror?! You will be so jealous amazed at how much i spent for it....wait for it.....

a whopping $2.98! Isnt that fabulous?! I think the ~~crazy~~ nice lady at the thrift store is my new best friend! :0)

Thats all folks! ♥

Takin' care of business

2009-08-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

My man in action = hot. ;0)

We're MOVING!

2009-08-08T15:58:00.001-07:00

Our escrow is supposed to close this coming Tuesday SO that means we have lots of moving to do! :0) I will post more after we move in! ♥

Lazy Days=the Best ♥

2009-07-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

So Matt and i had another day off together and we decided to go exploring :0) As we were driving in the mountains we found a little craft fair..

Tye-dye anyone? ;0) It was a really pretty day and so we strolled around the park..

The playground at the park had teeter totters!! I couldnt help myself..and Matt humored me ;0) I havent seen one of those in forever! Why are park toys so lame these days?

Then we went here...

..they call it the 'high desert.' We also went here...

(Eagle Lake.) We hung out on the beach and i had fun finding shells :0)

We relaxed in the sun and read some magazines...

Everything was peachy until the wind picked up and we kept getting sand blasted!!! Strong wind + sand = PAIN! So we left...and went to Lake Almanor. Matt hung out on the beach while i got my fix ;0)

...chillin with the hubby ♥

This is the fish i caught later that night..the fish there like to eat when it gets dark!

So that sums up our lazy day! The End :0)

New Blog ♥

2009-07-07T16:39:00.001-07:00

I just made a new blog called The Nest Diaries! Click the image to go check it out :0)

Our 4th ♥

2009-07-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

So Matt and i decided to go here on the 4th...

Lake Almanor is really pretty and we spent alot of time doing this...

...it was nice to relax and do nothing! I made a flag out of rocks on Matts back while he was lounging...he enjoyed it thoroughly ;0)

We did a little of this too while we waited for it to get dark...

Thats me fishing out on my float tube :0) July is a good time for flyfishing on Lake Almanor because in July there is a 'hatch' of little bugs called 'hex flies'. They hatch under water when the sun goes down and float to the surface..causing the fish to go crazy! We were just chillin on the beach, taking cool pictures like these...when all of the sudden...!!!

We heard a commotion in the water...fish were jumping all over the place! We were out in the water with our poles in record speed :0) By this time it was really dark and we could barely see what we were doing. Within a couple minutes i heard matt catch a fish...his pole was bent all the way down and it was fighting pretty hard which means...there was a MoNsTeR fish on the other end! I started walking in to go get my camera and WhAm...i caught one too!! So we were both realing in fish at the same time!!...However, sadly, Matts fish got loose right as he was reaching down to pick it up :0( He said it was humungo though. Heres a pic with matt and my fish..it wasnt huge but it was still fun to catch!

Soon after that the fireworks started and we sat back and enjoyed the show...

..it was so cool to watch the fireworks over the lake. We liked our day so much i think it might become a tradition :0) The next day, we did a little fishing on the Feather River and i caught this bad boy!

The perfect ending to a perfect weekend ;0) Thats all folks! ♥