Good Day

Went walking with some friends...

Went to singing group with my friend Leah...

Hung out with friends at an American Idol party...

and I was able to squeeze in time to take some pretty pictures of this friend...

Dream

Here we are after a bit of a blog Hiatus.
As my friends and family know, I have been daydreaming and wishing for a vacation. Somewhere warm, sand is acceptable but just to escape. I think everyone longs to escape sometimes.

Thanks to Steve for a much needed and wonderful escape to Colorado Springs. Steve took the family away for a Mother's Day Weekend and we made sure to use those precious Marriott points he's been accumulating to stay at a nice hotel.
To my delight I saw a Cracker Barrel sign as we approached town...I was instantly transported back to the South. What a wonderful start to our weekend. Gabriella loved the country store and even ate some of her dinner too. Steve ordered breakfast, and I got the ultimate comfort food, Chicken and Dumplings. I think it was Granny Martin who used to make it. So Yummy! They also gave Steve a helping of grits...I ate some of it for him.

(do you notice Wall-e in the photo?)




I seriously have the cutest girl ever...I love her so much!




During our weekend I wanted to do a bit of reading, something easy, something fun, oh and something Mr Darcy!



We also headed down to the Olympic Training Center...I loved it. I love the spirit of it all. The Olympics mean so much more to me than they used to, probably because of the whole carrying the torch thing (the article is still online, crazy!) But I love what it symbolizes. To even be a tiny speck in the Olympic Story amazes me.
Our tour guide went to the Beijing Games in Weightlifting.

(See our Crazy Hair... It was a bit windy that day! )



On our way home we stopped by the Air force Academy...
Gabriella said, "look at the spaceships!" She LOVED it, the planes, spaceships...it didn't matter, she ran to the planes.
(I think Ella was trying to get inside the plane)


Steve, thank you for a wonderful Mother's Day

Video Crazy

Here you go, enjoy!







There are more videos to come

snow and song

It snowed today so we are staying warm and wanted to share a song with you. Gabriella really likes to sing along with this video.

Easter Eggs

A few weeks late...

BUT....
here is the Hunt...the "Egg Hunt"

A Slightly Spring Day

I am LOVING my camera...the lens makes all the difference and Gabriella is good at letting me practice my novice photography skills on her.
Here she is sporting a little dress I made for earlier that day.
Our poor little yard needs some work but never fear, Gabriella is here. She was so good to water the flowers and her favorite thing...collecting rocks. She was really upset when I wouldn't let her bring all the rocks in the house.

Blog Change

You all probably noticed that the blog looks a bit different and that the pictures are gone. We switched servers and in the process the photos didn't transfer over. Steve is working on it and we will hopefully have the issues worked out in one way or the other, but stay tuned cause I have some NEW cute pics I'm going to post tonight.

Some catching up to do...

Time is flying by...Steve has been traveling here and there for his job and I've been able to stay very busy. Gabriella is my sweetheart and it makes me want to cry (I already did today) at how big she is getting. She fell asleep in my arms tonight and as I looked at her face, it was like looking at my baby 2 1/2 years ago. Then I noticed that she is about four times longer than she was when she was born. Yes the time flies.
Here is a recap of our Easter

I'm really proud of my skirt but you can't really see it very well in the pictures. My friend Amy helped me make it and it turned out really cute. She was my very own personal stylist...I will have to take her shopping with me again.
Here are some pics of me and Steve.

Some candy from the Easter Bunny came early thanks to a great package from Kentucky. The bunnies there really loaded us up on chocolate, eggs, and some darling presents for the little one. Thanks Bluegrass bunnies!
Once we got home from church Ella Bella found this

Then we were off to dinner at Amy and Ryan's house.
Sunday was cold and rainy so the Easter Bunny decided to hide the eggs Monday night. More on that to come!

A Red Rock Adventure

We did a little photo shoot today at Red Rocks.
Gabriella loved it!
She loves to pick up rocks so she was pretty amazed at the big red ones.
I was trying to explain a little about Dinosaurs and the big scary teeth. I told her to touch them and I heard her say.."so cute!"
We really had a perfect afternoon...and she fell asleep on the way home...Perfect!

More Twilight and Edward

Here are more pics from the other party! It was so much fun...this time we had fondue and lots of yummy things. More gift bags, more prizes and that dazzling quiz Steve made for me.

Twilight Party

So I had the bright idea of doing a Twilight Party...actually I did two Twilight parties.
I had wanted to pre-order it from Borders but the special edition was sold out and delivery wasn't until April, which is way too late. So since we were at the mall anyway we went to Hot Topic. I got a nifty gift card and special Twilight Invitation good for only one person. So to make sure I got my movie I pulled on my black hoodie, not to mention I was already wearing my black jeans and headed out to the mall with pepper-spray on hand (Charlie would be proud). I figured that was about as "goth" as I could get and pulled into the mall parking lot a little after midnight. I had missed all the activities on purpose, hoping to avoid the crowd of teenage girls escorted by their mothers. I planned it pretty well, the cars were heading out, mall security was still there and I walked right into the store. The employees were all decked out in black lace and heavy makeup. They gave me a strange look, so I told them how I wanted skip the crowd of 14 year olds and just wanted my movie. The gal smiled and said look "you even get a poster." Cool!
So the next day I cleaned, bought twinkle lights and Steve took Gabriella out to play at the mall with giant play food.
We stayed up late eating popcorn and too much sugar which is why some of these pics are so crazy! There may have been too much sugar but you can never have enough Edward. Right?
Thanks to Steve we had an amazing Twilight quiz, with prizes and everyone got a gift bag. I also want to thank my mom and sister for providing awesome items for the gift bags! You Rock

How much is that doggie in the window?

We are really enjoying our little Flip Video Camera.
(This video was taken a week ago when Ella Bella wasn't so sick)

for some reason Gabriella was playing around, licked my hand and tried to bark like a dog. So we have been practicing what animals say. Here she is....and it is a bit repetitive but still cute.

Mail Day

We had a surprise mail day!

At home! Maybe even for a week consecutively!

Well, it's been a crazy month. I took a new position at work which is giving me a lot of valuable experience, but also requires me to go through "bursts" of travel. February was one of those months--I traveled 3 weeks out of 4. However, March is looking to calm down, and I'm excited that I should have some time at home.

So, in the wake of Circuit City closing up shop, Meredith and I have been watching the rapidly diminishing stock there to see if, by the end, there would be anything worth picking up. It turns out that our hopes were not in vain--I found a Flip Video recorder there for 50% off, and it seemed like a good deal.

(Picture from Amazon.com)

We got this little thing because we figured it was an easy way to take quick video. It's not as fancy as a camcorder, but it's a LOT smaller, so we figured we could take it with us a lot. Also, it can take up to an hour of video, which far exceeds the 30 seconds our point and shoot camera can do. At any rate, here's the first video to be uploaded. Sorry for the cruddy camera work...I was trying to fix Rocket at the same time.

Photo Happy

On my quest to learn more about this whole Digital Photography thing....I went a little picture happy the other day.
Hope these make you smile.

Wouldn't it be Loverly?

It was!!!
The past few days really have been loverly....
I had bad luck trying to get a babysitter this week so Steve and I could go out for an early Valentine's dinner, BUT, after telling my good friend Leah my woes she saved the day and offered to let Gabriella come over to her house.
thank you, thank you!
It was great to go out.
We had bought some dessert to share with Gabriella and let her open the Valentine's Day package she got from Steve' family, she was very happy.

Today we were off to a birthday part at the Children's Museum. She ran and ran, played, slid, fell, it was very fun and a bit chaotic. She had a blast and even saw her friend Hunter there from church.
I did feel a little bad at one point...a little girl and Gabriella weren't watching and bonked right into each other. Ella got up and rubbed her head, looked at me and ran to the slide. The other little girl went to her mom crying and I saw them leave soon after. With so many kids running around I was surprised Ella didn't have many more

collisions. So with minimal bruises and no tears, it was time to get home.

It was a great and busy Valentines day!

Here's to sweet dreams and "chocolate" wishes.