Happy Birthday Ashlee

Happy Birthday Ashlee!

It was my sister-in-law Ashlee's birthday on Saturday.

{I've been busy, better late then never right!?}

{I don't have very many pictures of us together}

{Ashlee with her husband {Ryan's brother Elliott} & her two boys Gavin & Grady}

She is such a sweet, fun, kind person! She's always making something yummy or doing something fun with her family. She's so creative and talented!! She's an amazing photographer- check her out here! She has been kind enough to take our pictures several times- check some of them out here.

I hope that you had a great BIRTHDAY Ashlee!

Everything fun must end

Our last night there we went out to one of our favorite places! {not only is it good, but it's super cheap! All three of us eat for less then $20!}
Our last day there I took the kids outside to play in the snow! Ella had a blast, she has always said that she missed the snow. Jack didn't care much for it other then I think he thought it was fun to walk around in. {Don't you love his coat!? He didn't have one! So the week before we left for Utah I found this with Sarah at the Gap for 10 bucks!} It wasn't that cold, about the 50's the whole time we were there. Spring is coming!

Here's a video of Jack's first time in the snow!

On the way home. Poor kids. They were SO sick of being in the car that long... again!

Celine

{Right before we left for the concert!}

OK- if you didn't already know- I have the BEST friends ever! They secretly bought tickets to see Celine Dion for while I was in Utah!

Jill, Lisa, Tiffany and I

We were SO excited! I have known Lisa a loooooonnnggggg time, and that entire time I have known that she LOVES Celine! She always meant to go to her show in Vegas, but never could get tickets at the right time. Then at the last minuet she found out that she was going to be in Salt Lake for ONE night only!

These were our "original" seats. Yep, nosebleeds. Pretty bad. As we were watching the opening act we were thinking how crappy they were. Although they were SO cheap could we really complain? As we waited we saw that there was a pretty large section of empty seats a LOT closer. Tiff was the brave one who went down first. She just sat in one of the empty seats. After a few minuets we thought, OK, why not try. Who would it hurt right!?
We were pretty worried we would get into trouble, however nobody ever cared. In fact everyone around us were so nice! They moved a couple people around for us and even shared their popcorn and other treats with us!

AND THEN........... Came Celine!

When she came out {a little embarrassing} I almost started crying. Part because I was so excited, but mostly because I knew that Lisa was so excited! And I was so happy that I got to share in that moment with her.

The whole show was absolutely amazing! We had such a great time dancing and singing along!

Here are a couple of really short videos~

Thank you so much for surprising me with the best girl's night EVER! I'm so so so so so so so HAPPY that I was able to go and be there with all of you! We have to do that again!

Here are the men after a long night of babysitting! Thanks guys! {Jack-Jack asleep on a desk}

Game night

{Ryan's "game" face}

While in Utah we had to have a GAME NIGHT! It's when all of the Husbands get together and play video games while us ladies chat and watch movies.

You do NOT want to see that. I blocked it out for all of you. THIS is RYAN as he truly is. He had so much fun! I don't think that I've seen him that happy in a long time. (Except maybe that one time at PF Chang's- right Brian!)

Jack-Jack and baby Preston! They are almost the same size! Jack is 13 months and Preston is only 3 months! The girls had fun hanging out and eating popcorn. Jack was stealing some.

The girl's were so excited to have a sleepover! Ella finally fell asleep! She's such a night owl!

Baby Preston is so sweet! He's only three months old but can already laugh and does ALL the time!

Going to Utah

On our way to Utah! This is when we got up to Flagstaff and saw snow for the first time in a long time! Yeah for snow!

This weekend we took a short trip up to Utah! Ella was so excited to see her friends there. Ryan has been thinking about moving back up to Utah a lot over the past few months. He was able to meet with some people while we were there. We'll see what happens over the next few weeks.

What are you doing this weekend?

We are going HERE!

What did you watch tonight?

..............We watched these guys laughing and playing.

Better then anything on TV.

She had to leave someday.........

{Ella loves her Aunt Sarah! They were best buddies all week! Thanks for putting up with her following your every move Sar!}

After being here a week it was time for Sarah to fly home. It was so nice having her here! It was nice to just relax and hang out. I hope that she had fun. I know that I did!

Some of the things we did while she was here- Shopping, saw the movie "he's just not that into you", Girl's night, played games, baked, watched movies/TV, carpool, Papa Murphys Pizza, played at the park, Culvers and more shopping.

It was a love- hate relationship.

Are we wearing matching tee shirts you ask? Why yes, yes we are. Our Mom used to dress us in matching clothes all the time. So what if we still want to in our 20's? Now every time I wear it I'll think of you Sar. It was seriously so nice to have you here. There's nothing like having your sister close by. I wish that you lived closer so that we could see each other more. I had so much fun just talking. I missed you the second I dropped you off. I love you!
{here's hoping for May to come soon!}

Happy Birthday Sandy

This past week was my mother-in-law Sandy's birthday! On Sunday we were able to go over to her house and celebrate!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDY!

Thank you for all that you do for us, we love you! We hope that you had a great birthday!

Valentines Day

We have a special Valentines fairy who comes and leaves the children treats!
Ella was so excited she had a hard time sleeping the night before. It was like Santa was coming. {you can see the glitter on Ella's sheets. Everywhere the Valentines fairy flies she leaves glitter}

Jack-Jack woke up while Ella was looking through her gift basket. He was very mad that he couldn't get in.
So we went and got him his basket. He forgot about ever wanting to go in Ella's room.

My sweet little babies.

Since Sarah was visiting and it was Valentines day {so sad that she was away from her new sweet husband their first Valentines day!} Ryan and I got to go on a DATE! {Thank you Sarah for watching the kids and thank you Melissa and Brian for the gift card!} It was so weird though. We almost NEVER get to go out, let alone without any children! We didn't know what to talk about for the first ten minuets. Then we didn't want to leave. We could have stayed there all night talking with each other.

Before we left we exchanged some gifts- I got him some work out clothes- he got me some new things for my camera. Perfection.

This was our SEVENTH Valentines day together! I think this year was the best!

I love you sweetheart. I can't believe that it's been seven years! I love you more then ever! You still give me goose bumps. Thank you for being my best friend! I love you!

Valentine Sugar Cookies

The Bullard family {minus Brian who was out of town} came over to make come yummy valentine sugar cookies with us!

The girl's did a great job and had a lot of fun doing it.

So did Dilly! He loved licking the frosting the best.

Silly Ella!

Silly Ava!

The little boys enjoyed sitting in their chairs again!

After we {Me, Sarah and Melissa} ate so many cookies we thought that we might throw up we decided the best thing we could do was play some games. Melissa, you always kick my butt at every game! We stayed up until we were so tired we were laughing at everything! It was so much fun! Thanks ladies!

What to do my children do while I'm on the computer?

I was working on some things for a client and they just pulled up some chairs. I have such sweet supportive children! Although it did only last a second, it was a wonderful, quiet second.

{I really just love love love this picture because it shows off Ella's beautiful red lips. It's not lipstick, it's all her- just like her Daddy}

School Valentines

I was home schooled and although I don't feel like I really missed out on very much, one of the things I always wanted to do (other then getting to wait to ride the bus, not actually get on the bus, just line up with the other kids to wait for it) was to get Valentines from classmates! Today Ella's class gave their Valentines and had an ice cream party! She loved carefully opening each card.

Yesterday was another parent teacher conference. I am so pleased, Ella is doing very well. She's so smart, helpful and gets along so well with everyone. As I was getting ready to leave her wonderful teacher told me that there is just one thing that I need to do for Ella- get her into DRAMA! (this is not my first time hearing this) Ella is always so dramatic. She loves to pretend to be different characters or put on a show for me and Ryan. So, I'm starting to think about it. Anyone know how I might be able to get her into some kind of community theater?

Sarah is HERE!

My sister Sarah got here on Tuesday. No husband, no kids. Just her. We were so excited to have her come and spend a week with us!

Ella loves Aunt Sarah. She's followed Sarah everywhere. Constantly asking her questions or wanting to show her something.
Last night we were able to have a girl's night out!

Lauren, Allison, Katrina, Melissa, Sarah and I went out to the Cheesecake Factory! It was SO good!

Thanks ladies! It's was so much fun! I LOVE having girl's night out!

This is what I came home to. Every time Ryan watches the kids they play video games. Ella and Jack love it! It's something they look forward to every time they are with Daddy.

Poor baby Jack-Jack, he got too tired.

MORE of Sarah's trip to come!