We're homeowners!!

We closed on our house today. We're homeowners!

The final walkthrough was yesterday, and I brought my camera, and took some more pictures for ya'll to see.

Our home!

The kitchen

That's Terry. He's our fill-in realtor. Our's went hunting.

Where the dining room table will go.

Living room

Guest bathroom (downstairs)

Dustin's office (downstairs)

Now we'll go up the stairs...

Kate's room

Kid's bathroom

Little loft area

Master bathroom

It was after this picture that the batteries in my camera died. I did not get a picture of the walk-in-closet, master bedroom, the other room that's upstairs, formal living room, or backyard. Oh well. You guys can imagine it right?

We got the keys today and we will be moving in over the next few weeks. We are so excited!!!

False alarm people. False alarm.

Dustin fixed my camera! I'm not sure how he did it. I thought it was destroyed. The lens was crooked for crying out loud. But he fixed it! I'm so happy (and secretly sad because a broken camera is a good excuse to upgrade to a better camera, right?). Here are the pictures I was taking of Kate yesterday.

Those of you how read my cooking blog, know how much I've come to love this website, thepioneerwoman.com. I am quickly becoming her number one fan. I love ALL the recipes that I've tried from her. I even bought her cookbook. It's great. Anyway... yesterday I looked at the Photography section of her website. She has photoshop tutorials! I had a lot of fun, and wasted a lot of time, trying them out on these pictures. She even has these things called Actions, that you can download for free. I unfortunately have a really old version of Photoshop, so they don't work for me. But if you have newer versions--check them out they are really cool.

By the way Erin Householder, when are you going to start doing step-by-steps? I'm waiting! haha.

Don't judge these too much. I just have a point-and-shoot camera, and I'm not very experienced in Photoshop. I had lots of fun though!

Almost ready to crawl...

I love this one.

And this one is my favorite.

6 months

Normally I would have a super cute picture of Kate right here.

In fact, I got her dressed really cute and went outside to take pictures. It's a beautiful 61 degrees here today! Can you believe it?

We went outside and played on the grass. I got pictures of her smiling, and pictures of her almost crawling (she's really close!). Then I decided I wanted a picture of the two of us. There are beautiful bushes along the walkways at my apartment complex. I went to take a picture of us by one with pretty yellow flowers. I had Kate on my hip with my left hand, and with my right I went to snap the picture. That's when it happened.

Kate squirmed.

Mother's instinct kicked in, and I grabbed her with both hands.

I lost my grip on the camera.

It feel to the concrete with a thud.

It hit right on the lens, which is now destroyed. It won't even turn back on. I feel like a part of me just died. It wasn't a great camera, but it was MY camera. It went with me everywhere, helping me document my life. It was always there to capture Kate's smiles, or record her first laugh. I'm so sad right now. Why did I think I could take that picture? WHY?!? I can't talk about this anymore...

Kate is 6 months old today!!! I can't believe it! 6 months ago today I met her for the first time.



And my life changed forever.

She is now so mobile. She knows how to get from point A to point B by rolling and scooting. She gets up on her hands and knees, but has yet to crawl. She is eating solid foods once a day. She loves playing peek-a-boo and laughs hilariously every time we play. She loves to be down on the ground playing. She doesn't like to just sit and cuddle with mom anymore! She loves her daddy very much and gets so excited when he comes home everyday. She sleeps in her own crib now, and is (thankfully) sleeping for longer stretches at night.

I love her so much, and I can't believe six months have already flown by. I'm so grateful to be a stay-at-home-mom and get to spend all of these special moments with her. I'm so grateful for a wonderful husband who is willing to work so that I can be home with her.

I am very blessed.



Now I just need a new camera.

Family Pictures

About 2 months ago, I WON a photo shoot! Does everyone remember that? Good. Well, yesterday we took the pictures. They turned out BEAUTIFUL! I'm so excited! Kate was so grumpy yesterday and wouldn't smile for anything, so I'm so excited that we got some cute ones! Go here to see the pictures:

http://ashleymadsenphotography.com/blog/

Along with the shoot, I won 1 8x10, and a 5x5 album with 10 images. Looks like I'm going to have to order some more!

Also- if you're wondering where Kate got that adorable hat, go HERE. My sister-in-law makes them, and they're the cutest!

Gap Baby

I know it's kind of dorky, but I entered this cutie-pie



in the Gap Casting Call. The top 20 babies get a photoshoot, and $500 Gap gift card. The fan favorite (which is why I need you!) wins a trip to Jamaica. I think Kate will love Jamaica. I really do. Don't crush a little babies dreams. You need to vote for her!

Here's the thing though. There were 800,000 entries in this contest! The leading fan favorite already has 34,000 votes. What?!? How does someone even know 34,000 people? So rally up everyone you know, and vote. I'll bring you to Jamaica with me.

Here's how to vote:

go to family.go.com/gapcasting call

they will probably make you sign up, it's the only way to monitor the voting

there is like, a billion pictures, so put Kate's ID# 517458449 in the search box.

You can vote once a day. Jamaica here we come!

In other news, we will be closing on our house on Friday! During this coming week we'll be signing the loan documents and doing the final walk through on our home. I will remember my camera this time and take more pictures. Hopefully. It's starting to get very exciting!

Wonderful Weekend

This weekend we went home. Dustin was supposed to play in a golf tournament with his dad and brothers, but it got canceled. We decided to go up anyway! I'm so glad we did, we had so much fun, and I was needing some time outside of the house!

Friday night we stayed in Snowflake. Just my mom and Jennifer were there since Dad and the boys were busy camping. *note-- they are ALWAYS camping!* Grandma and Aunt Jen had lots of fun playing with Kate. Saturday morning I colored and cut Jen's hair. Yay! I miss doing hair sometimes. It's cute. But, like an idiot, I forgot to take a picture. I cut an a-line bob and put highlights and lowlights in her hair.

Saturday afternoon we went up into the forest with Dustin's family. The weather was so nice! The forest looked beautiful with all the changing leaves. We went a little picture crazy here, so sorry about the overload.

Our little family

Daddy and Kate




Mommy and Kate

Grandma and the girls
Kate just loved playing in the leaves!

Yes that picture should be rotated, but I'm too lazy to do it right now.

Our Angel


And the cutest picture ever...

Now that Kate and Jaylee are 5 months old, there are so cute together! They just love to be on the floor together rolling around and laughing.

Kicking the leaves

On Sunday we went to church and had lunch (steaks! yumm....) with Dustin's family. We all relaxed and watched the Cardinals game, then we packed up and headed for home. We met my Dad and the boys at Showlow park and visited with them for a little bit before we drove home.

Our car overheated on the way home! That's the first problem we've encountered with this car. It's got 90,000 miles on it now. Crazy. So we had to stop in Globe to buy a gallon of water to cool it down. We really need to get a tune-up on that car. Let's just add that to the list of expensive-things-we-need-soon. Ugh. Donations, anyone?

We did make it home safely (if you were wondering). Thanks again to everyone for a great weeked!

HAhahahaHA!

Oh my goodness... I have found two of the best websites in the world! I have been laughing all day.

Yes, I really should be doing chores, but I'd rather be looking at this:

The site is called AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com. It's guaranteed to brighten you day no matter what mood you're in.

Wow.

I think the self-tanner attacked her in her sleep.

The reason the word "gal" was invented.


This next website is cakewrecks.blogspot.com. It's pictures of badly made professional cakes. Here's just a taste:

Is this a zombie bride and groom? AAAHHH!



And THIS is probably the funniest thing I've ever seen:

I can just imagine the call to the bakery...

"Can I get a bunny cake for my daughter's 6th birthday?"
"Why sure, mam"

I wish I could have seen her face when she picked this up instead!


HahahahahHA! Have a great day everybody!