family photos!!!

we were able to get family pictures taken last night. Our photographer was a rock star, and she already had some of the pictures up and web ready by this afternoon! Which, gets huge brownie points in my book since I have absolutely no patience.

I am so happy with how the pictures turned out! But, since a picture is worth a thousand words, this post does not need many words...

Happy Birthday Dear Ashlyn!

We have been talking about little miss schmutz' birthday for months! Every time we would pass party decorations, go to a friend's birthday, or see a toy that Ashlyn wanted, we would talk about how "maybe" we could do that, get that, for her party.

We ended up doing a "strawberry" themed party - and it was a lot of fun! We had wonderful friends, great food, and plenty of princess accessories!

I love my little 3 year old! She is the most precious little girl and I couldn't have asked for a better daughter and best friend!

Memorial Day Picnic...

This past memorial day was spent over at St. Edwards Park.. which is almost a second home to us, since we are over there almost every sunny day. But this time we went over to spend lunch with our ward. It is so fun to be able to socialize with all of our friends out side of church. Ashlyn was especially excited to see Sue (pictured above) and...

Cinder! The little puppy she gets to go play with while I teach Sue voice lessons. Ashlyn tried to tug Cinder around on the lease, but it ended up being Cinder tugging Ashlyn around. So Ashlyn gave up on that idea fairly quickly.

We enjoyed a delicious filled feast, and an active game of ultimate frisbee! It ended up not being sunny, but at least it didn't rain!

We are enjoying spring...

It might not be as warm as we would wish, but it is definitely beautiful! We've has some gorgeous weather, which always helps with getting the work done around the house. We hurry and get it done really fast, so we can run outside and play!

This particular evening, we were lucky enough to have the Dyer's come on down and enjoy a quick dinner and then an evening at the park. Since it doesn't get dark until after Ashlyn's bedtime, we always have long fun evenings during sunny days... ah... I love summer!

Ashlyn loves playing with these two girls (above). She probably secretly believes they are her long lost sisters that we only let her play with every once in a while. She always get so excited with even the mention of playing with either Katelyn or Adelie.

It was a great friday evening! And I can't wait for it to warm up just a few degrees more (please?) and... of course... stop having overcast every other day!

But, good thing I have this cute little "princess"... she really is my sunshine!

Its a small world after all...

I got my posts a little mixed up.. this happened before easter.

We sure do enjoy our friends here in Washington. It's always nice to have a warm sunshiny face to play with on those gloomy days. Two of our favorite families to play with are Jake's cousins - the Dyers, and a family in our ward - the Spigarellis.

And, it just so happens, they know each other! It just has taken us almost 2 whole years to put the connection together. A few years ago, the Dyers and Spigarellis were both at Microsoft doing an internship the same summer. They lived in the same ward, and both had just one little kid, almost the same age. Now, they both have four little kids (almost the same ages), and are some of our best friends!

I will just say, Ashlyn was very confused, and pleasantly surprised when we headed out to the Zoo with Daniel & Natalina (the two Spigarellis closest to her age) and we meet up with Katelyn and Adelie (the two Dyers closest to her age)! She was a very happy girl that day! We love friends!

Easter...

Our easter got a little mixed up this year - first, we celebrated with an easter egg hunt and formal dinner while we were in Utah with my family. Second, our church celebrated the week before because we had our stake conference on Easter. Third, we had an easter egg hunt the day before easter, and a wonderful easter dinner actually on Easter Sunday. Wow. That is a lot of easter.

But, we did enjoy it all. Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. I like the holidays that have a lot of spiritual and historical meaning, without a lot of commercialization. We were so happy to see such beautiful sunshine and pretty chamomile flowers out at the park. 

We stayed around the park to play and hunt eggs most of the morning. Then we headed to downtown Kirkland and grabbed a little French pastry and walked over to the beach. I love living in such an urban city, it is lacking in some qualities (sunshine and children) but it does have some unique lovely qualities about it that are very enjoyable!

our new toy...

I completely forgot to blog about our new favorite toy in our house. We actually ended up buying this awesome piano a few weeks before we headed out to Utah. And, we all love it! It is an awesome old 1930's era cabinet grand.. the type that would work wonders in a good vintage movie. I love all the scuff marks and worn down corners - a beauty that we will keep around for quite a while!

Ashlyn has also found a love of playing the piano and singing. We usually have a bit of contention whenever I try to play the piano... it always seems to be her turn. We all love the new, lovely music we have floating around the house, and the sweet spirit it brings!