1/4 of a CENTURY

I'm not one that likes to blog about her own birthdays but this one was definitely blog worthy. Despite the fact that I turned 25 this year (a 1/4 of a century old as everyone so nicely told me all day), it probably was one of the best birthdays I have ever had and I have my sweet husband to thank for that. We had the family come over to eat friday night and it was so much fun. We all sat around and visited, except for my dad who was out of town and my sister who lives in mesa, and then we ate yummy costa vida salad with ice cream cake for dessert.

My grandma, mom, and Bryan

My sweet little girl who is just so excited to be getting away with being on the table.

My older brother Brent and younger sister Jillian

My gift from my wonderful husband...a Brad Paisley concert for the next day in Phoenix! It was such an awesome gift and I have never been to a concert so I was pretty excited.

My sweet little neice Gracie.

Me and Bry at the Rainforest Cafe where we met his family to eat the next day. From here they took Olivia while we headed off to the concert. I love her to death but I was really looking forward to having an evening with my husband...baby free! They opened the gates at 4:00 and had several people who played before him on a little side stage. I didn't really recognize the names of the people until I heard their music. We got to hear Josh Thompson "Way Out Here", Easton Corbin "I'm a Little More Country Than That", and Steel Magnolia "Halo and Wings". They played for a couple of hours and then we were finally able to go to the main stage at 7:30 and we were entertained by Justin Moore "Small Town USA" and Darius Rucker who has a ton of good songs but his popular one right now is "It Won't Be Like This for Long". They all did so good and we totally felt like we got our money's worth before Brad even walked on the stage. He came on at about 9:00 and sang until about 11:00. Everyone went absolutely crazy the ENTIRE time he was on stage. I didn't know you could scream that loud...for that long. I didn't join in but I will admit that it was a freakin awesome concert!

As you can see Bryan got us some sweet seats. We were in the front of the second section and were pretty much centered with the stage but on the edge of the aisle...if that makes any sense. Anyway, we had great seats.

And there he is...in all his glory! He has such great music and he's pretty cute! I would probably hold his hand...I'm just sayin! I'm not really into the whole cowboy hat thing but he makes it look okay :).

Speaking of holding his hand...Brad decided to just take a walk during one of his songs and started walking down the aisle, where I happened to be sitting and he walked right next to me! Here he is as he is approaching (about 5 feet away).

And here he is about a foot away from me. I didn't hold his hand obviously but I did get a high five from him which was a thrill. It was crazy to see the crowd go nuts!

It was a fun and exciting weekend and one heck of a first concert to go to. We are definitely going to have to do it again...once we get our hearing back!

Family Pictures!

I finally did it! After nearly a year of talking about it I decided Livia isn't getting any younger so I finally went ahead and scheduled the family pictures. Such a dreaded thing, I know. I chose Becky McArthur from yellowskinnyphotos to be the lucky one to do it and am so happy with the results. Both her and her husband do it together and what a fun, talented couple. They did an awesome job. Great photographers, great price, great quality. Got to love it! They very nearly made the experience painless, although outfits weren't exactly easy to coordinate. But, we survived and are excited to have them. They took a lot of pictures and here are a few of them from our session. I had a hard time choosing which ones to post so I did quite a few...enjoy!

Diamondbacks Game

Meet Janie. This little girl is amazing. Of course, it's in her blood so how could she not be right!? At only 18 months old, Janie was in need of a liver transplant. Luckily for our family, she didn't have to wait as long as most and she received her new little liver just before she turned 2. Janie was a miracle. Not long after her surgery, when most were still flat in bed, this little girl was larger than life and JUMPING in her hospital bed. Now 4 years later at 6, Janie is still jumping all over the place, hardly ever holding still. If you met her, you would never know she had a transplant unless of course you ever watch the news, or go to the donate for life d-backs game. Janie is our family celebrity. Last year at the d-backs game Janie was able to throw the opening pitch of the game. She did awesome too, hiked her leg up and everything. So, anyway, that's what this day is all about. It's becoming tradition for our family to come to the d-backs game every year because she is part of it. This year she was interviewed during one of the innings and was on tv. Her mom (my sister) is also a volunteer for the Donor Network and they have been able to do lots of things. If you aren't a registered organ donor, we might not be able to be friends anymore. Just kidding, but seriously if you aren't you should be. It saves lives and gives cute little kids like Janie a second chance at it.

On our way to the d-backs game. Olivia loves her sunglasses and likes to wear them while we travel. She also likes to take this enormous christmas bear with her. It's bigger than her but she loves it and sleeps with it every night.


At the game. D-backs vs. Phillies.

Bryan, Me, and Olivia.

Olivia and Daddy! As you can see, the game started right at her naptime and she was ready for it but wouldn't dare close her eyes until the end for fear that she would miss something fun.

This is my other sister's little girl Annie. She is so cute and is only 4 months younger than Olivia. Right now they go for the same toys and just sort of fight when they are together but I'm sure the older they get the better friends they will be.

Olivia

Nannie and Papa with baby Gunner. There were quite a few of us there!

After the game we stopped in globe for some yummy Mexican food. Olivia loves chips and was pretty excited to be out of her carseat!

It was a pretty fun day. We are all looking forward to going again next year. Oh ya, the d-backs won by the way which made it even funner.

P.S. We got word that Bryan is accepted into the Nursing Program starting Fall 2010. We are pretty excited to be that much closer to his career.

Yes...we are still alive!

Let's start with the sad truth:

1. I am a really, really bad blogger.

2. Everyone knows it.

Although these facts are pathetically true there is an up-side to this sadness. You see, the best part about it is if I do post more than once every 6 months I'm making huge progress...right?? I'm all about trying to better myself so I like to start simple (like blogging twice a year) and then I feel better about myself if by some luck I manage to do it more than that. I've even tried silly things to make me HAVE to update each month such as holiday backgrounds but if anyone is still bothering to look at my page anymore they have seen that we are still celebrating halloween at our house. I really considered leaving it to save myself the trouble of having to change it in another six months! Hopefully now that life is slowing down a little I will be better about posting. No promises though...

For the most part life has been pretty good for us. We have moved up to our front house and have spent ALL of our spare time, and then some, fixing it up. We have scraped walls, painted, laid new flooring, painted, created new rooms, painted, torn out cabinets, painted, laid new countertops, painted - did I already say that one?! I feel like I have been painting everyday for the past three months. I am so sick of painting and I'm not even done yet. We still have plans to paint the outside in the next few weeks and then have two more rooms that need redone. It looks so much better so I guess it was worth it in the end. Just recently we finished our kitchen. Bryan did such a good job I thought I would include a few pictures just so you could see how bad it was. Here are some before shots.

Don't you just love the flooring?? It was always our favorite! And now I am proud to show you what the kitchen looks like now... tadah!

Bryan completely re-arranged the existing cabinets, created an island for us, relaid the countertops and then I helped with the sanding the cabinets and painting everything. Just this last weekend we both laid the flooring together and now we have just a few odds and ends to finish before it is complete. So much better. It is so nice to be married to someone who knows how to do EVERYTHING! I am so lucky.

Bryan and I are also really into food storage/bottling and I also do coupon sense so we have a huge amount of stuff without a place to put it. So, we created one. It is our food storage/laundry room and I love it. It's kind of hard to explain what we did exactly but we pretty much cut a long, weird shaped mud room in half and created two normal looking rooms. This room is connected to the kitchen and has a door to our back porch/grilling area. It is the perfect setup. Here is what it looks like.

Anyway, remodeling has kept us busy while trying to juggle it with every day life. Bryan is looking forward to his summer break coming up and has put in his application for the nursing program so we should be able to find out in the next few weeks. He has completed all of his pre-requisits and his co-requisits so if he gets in he will have the program classes only. If he doesn't get in this semester he gets a longer summer break because he has nothing left to take. He really doesn't care either way...I think he wants a break but I would prefer to get on with it. Whatever happens happens I guess.

As for Miss Olivia, she is as cute as ever. She is growing up so fast it's almost sad. She is about 16 1/2 months now and EVERYWHERE. She talks a mile a minute, most of which I can't understand, but is actually starting to make a little sense. We are able to pick out a few words here and there. She doesn't just walk anymore, she runs and she is so independent and stubborn. I wonder where she gets that from? At least she gets her looks from her dad. I have actually been pretty bad about taking pictures lately so the ones posted here are from the past 3-6 months. I just cleared my camera card and vowed to take lots over the summer because she changes so fast. For now these are all I have. Enjoy!

Just before her 1st birthday

Olivia and Mom around Thanksgiving time.

My mom has this goofy looking expandable ball that Olivia loves to put around herself. She also likes to capture Daddy and get kisses from him. They are crazy about each other, it is so cute to watch.

These pictures were taken only a few months ago. She looks like a toddler now, it makes me sad. She is so stinkin cute though!

Easter at Nannies. Trying to decide which egg has the best chocolate in it.

That's all I've got for now but you should all be hearing from me again soon. I'm quite proud of myself for how long this blog is. That ought to count for something right?! Until next time...see ya later!