Work and Friends

My life this week and has been a whole lot of work (it's our quarter end). So, dealing with the split of our company and quarter end all at once has been interesting. Plus, since I'm not over GL again, it's my first time having to "try" to run things. I put "" around try because I've certainly screwed up a lot this week. Had to work all day today as well. 8-6. The one highpoint to that was einstein's bagels and Al's pizza. Good stuff.

Also, my friend Keira (we met at UF, she did her undergrad at Notre Dame and I at BYU. So, neither of us knew anyone at Florida and were paired on a team project. Been friends ever since). She had her hubby live in Denver. But, she was in town for another UF friends wedding this weekend. And, we happily had her crash at our house Thursday night. It was really nice to get to talk to her and just chat.

For those of you that know me, I really really suck at keeping in contact with people. So, I always enjoy a chance to redeem myself. Even if just to offer my house for one night and a dinner.

I made sure we got at least one pic together to prove she was here. I'll have to upload later. haven't put them on the computer yet.

that's been about it. maybe something exciting will happen next week.

Beach Baby

On July 5th, Danny and I decided to make our first attempt at going to the beach. Neither of us had been in almost 2 years. Yep, we live 10 min. from the beach and never go.

We have learned that going to the beach with a little one takes a whole lot of "stuff" to survive. Food, bottles, beach toys, chairs, umbrella, towels, sheet, and more. But, we had a lot of fun. Stayed for about an hour and a half. It was high tide so we were stuck sitting in the soft sand and that stuff sticks to everything.

Luckily, Danny's parents live at the beach and we were able to stop by there on the way home and go for a dip in the pool to partially get rinsed off.

Ashlyn loves to water and really enjoyed sitting in the tidal pools. They were just her speed and size.

Dad and daughter enjoying the shade.

say CHEEEEEZE!!!!
Hey, Pay Attention To Me!!!

July 4th

So, I'm a week late getting this up, but better later than never. We had a good July 4th. Had a cookout at my parents. Then, met up with the Kirks- Carson, Amber,and Grayson and went to beach to watch the fireworks. Grayson stayed up the whole time. But, Ashlyn fell asleep right before they began. O well. We will try again next year.

Ashlyn and my nephew Tyler. He's interning with KPMG right now in Jax.

A sleepy little Ashlyn and we weren't even to the beach yet.

I usually wouldn't put other kids pics up but I love this one of Grayson. What a look!!
The happy family.

Lucky #7

Danny and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary at Ruth's Chris last night. We did an early dinner right after work so we could get home to see Ashlyn before she went to bed. Here are some pics of what we happily devoured--

This was the really, really good dessert we had-caramelized banana cream pie.

Above is what Danny got- Surf and Turf. I just had the petite fillet. How can you not like a steak brought out to you on a plate sizzling in butter.

It definitely was a good thing that our reservations were at 5:30 because we had some time to digest our food before we went to bed.

We don't splurge this big on a meal often, but it sure was worth it!!

The scenery was nice too. We ate at the location downtown and saw a family of dolphins going up the river. That was pretty cool too.

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads. I've been very fortunate in my life to have a wonderful dad and a husband who is a great dad as well.

My dad has been a really good example to me. Even though my brothers and I give him a hard time a lot, it is all out of love. I'm definitely a daddy's girl.

Danny has really amazed me since we've had Ashlyn. He's always loved kids, but he has really stepped right into the Dad role for her. Their is no doubt how much he loves his little girl. I have a feeling that she may be pretty spoiled (just as I was. :) )

Happy Father's Day again to the two most important men in my life.

P.S.- I'll have to do a mom post soon since I forgot to at Mother's Day for her (I guess the cooties i had made me forget).

More June Pic's-My happy little girl

Ashlyn's Room

Anyone who knows me will say that I'm not exactly a big decorator. I would love my house to be nicely made up. But, I'm not good at it and get stressed out when I try. So, I end up avoiding it. That results in lots of bare walls, windows, etc.

But, for Ashlyn's room, I did make an attempt. I still have a little empty wall space to figure out what to do with, but I think it's pretty good. See my pics:

(the furniture came from all over: Crib- USA Baby, Changing Table- Babies R Us, Dresser- Ashley furniture, Bookshelf- Target)






The item above Ashlyn's changing table is something my coworker's did. It says Baby Ashlyn and then in the white they all wrote very nice notes (they gave it to me at my shower).


Look how happy she is to be in her room.

Update

So, I'd better do a quick update so that my Ankle Envy post isn't at the top. Apparently my male readers thought it was a little odd. So, I've been given a hard time by them. It's ok though.

Danny flew to Atlanta Thursday night for a training class last Friday. The one thing I really like about Atlanta is the MARTA system. It goes directly into the Airport, so you usually don't even need to rent a car if your staying downtown or near a station.

The company that sold Danny's company their new software is actually headquartered in Provo. They do a training once a quarter in Atlanta though.

Copyfax (danny's work) also had a company picnic on Saturday at Camp Blanding on Kingley lake. It was a nice time. Really nice weather. Ashlyn and I enjoyed getting in the lake and Danny got competitive with horseshoes.

That's it for now. Maybe something exciting will happen this weekend. :0)

Ankle Envy

OK. This may be really weird but I thought I'd say it anyways. I have ankle envy!! I guess I should explain. My whole life I've had "almost cankles". My legs just come close to going straight to my feet. I don't have the nice skinny ankles like a lot of people. (Even when I was 20lbs lighter than I am now, it was that way)

I thought of this today as I was walking out of work and the lady in front of me had really skinny nice ankles. She overall was heavier than I am, but still had pretty ankles. Why was I cursed?

I say this partly joking and partly serious. Don't get me wrong, I have lots of insecurities about my body, but this one thing is something that I actually notice about other people and say "I wish I had her ankles".

So, after this odd post, I'll ask my readers, does anyone else have a weird or odd "Envy" or is it just me?

Photo Shoot

I'm putting these pics on the blog since my parents just flew out to SLC yesterday for 3 weeks and I know my mom would be itching to see these photos before then.

Mom-tell Aunt Weta, Aunt, Hilda, Aunt Norma Jean, Uncle Larry, and Aunt Ginger hello. (yes, all of my dad's family now lives in Utah- Brigham City and Logan to be more precise).

We took Ashlyn for her 6 month pics today to Picture People. They did a really good job. My pretty little model.

6 Month Checkup

Ashlyn had her six month checkup yesterday. Everything went well. She is still a healthy and happy baby.

Stats:

Height 27 inches (90%)
Weight 18lbs 3oz (90%)

Danny came with me this time to get initiated into the shots routine so that if I can't take her one time, he will know what to expect. I held her while they did it, then he got to scoop her up to get her calmed down. (Daddy saves the day!) She was a trooper. She forgot about it 10 seconds after it happened.

We are definitely blessed with such a good baby.

Tampa

This past weekend Danny, myself, and Ashlyn headed to Port Richey (just north of Tampa) to visit his grandma and other family. We had a really good time visiting with family that we hadn't seen in a while. The trip down and back went really well. Ashlyn hardly slept on the way down but I was able to keep her entertained and happy. We drove down on Friday afternoon after I had my massage (a present from danny for my last birthday, which is in June. So, that tells you how long it took me to get it. That experience is a whole other story :) ). Once we got there we dropped our stuff off at the hotel and headed to his grandmas to say hi. We visited a little then went to eat with some of the family. Danny's parents and two of his brothers also went down. So, lots of family there. Danny's grandma, Aunt Nina, Uncle Serge, Cousins- Michelle, Julie, and Stephen (Nina's kids) all live in the area. Also got to see his second cousins- Jacob-12, Azaela-4, and Alexis-18 mths. All so cute. Unfortunately we missed seeing his cousin Stephen and his family, but was able to see everyone else.

Saturday was more visiting. Danny wanted to take Ashlyn to the Tampa Aquarium to see the penguins. But, when we finally got down there, it was only open for another hour. So, we decided not to go since it was around $20 per person and wasn't worth it for an hour. We would have made it sooner, but our little cat nap baby decided to take TWO- 2-hour naps (and those were only that long cause we had to wake her up both times to go somewhere). I guess the trip the day before wore her out. After we ate in Tampa in area called Channelside (Stumps restaurant), we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed a dip in the pool. The water was the perfect temp. It was great.

Sunday we headed to the zoo (see post below) then headed to Danny's grandmas for some more family time and a nice dinner. Thanks Grandma Olga for the dinner. It was delicious.

Monday, one last chance for a visit and then we stopped at Serge's demonstration in Largo. He is affiliated with a group that was protesting the war. It wasn't a protest with picket signs, etc. It was more suttle. They setup a spot in a park where they laid out a set of boots for each FL soldier killed in Iraq. They then laid various "civilian" shoes in the middle to represent the Iraqi civilians killed. Very thought provoking scene. I thought it was a well done way of protesting the war while also commemorating those who had died and those who were still fighting without being negative toward the soldiers.

After that, we headed home. Though we really enjoyed the weekend, we also are happy to be home. Hopefully we can do better at visiting his and mine family more often. Most of our immediate family is here in Jax, but the cousins, aunts, and uncles are all over. So, we will do our best.

Here are some pics of the family.

The Zoo

While we were in Tampa, we went to the Tampa Zoo with some of Danny's family. We had a lot of fun. It was Ashlyn's first time to the zoo. We were a little worried since Ashlyn was scared of Danny's gradma's dob-snowball. But, she seemed to really like the zoo. ( i think she is happy as long as she is out and moving). We saw chimps, gorillas, zebras, elephants, penguins, bears, O my!! Azaela and Alexis even got to feed a camel and pet some goats. Another highlight was Ashlyn getting to ride the carousel. Below are some pics of our fun day.


Ashlyn ready for the big day out at a zoo!!!

Alexis and Azaela posing for the camera (what cuties!)

Ashlyn and I on the carousel.

Alexis and the goat.

Azaela excited to brush the goat.

Cool Baby

Here is Ashlyn in her new shades. Also, our first pics of her sitting by herself at the old age of 6 months old.

Hair Pics

Before (my nice hippie look) :0)

Here we go!!!:


After:

MY HAIR!!!

I finally did it. I chopped my hair off. It is still to my shoulders but I cut 16 in. off yesterday. I'm donating it to Locks of Love. My aunt used to be a hair stylist (now she is a probate judge) and was in town and offerred to cut it for me. So, I took her up on th offer since it was for free!!! Thanks Aunt Jeffrey.

It is amazing. It took me all of 5 secs. to brush my hair this morning. Before, it would take almost 5 minutes to brush it and get all the tangles out since it was so darn long. Pictures are coming soon. I took before and after pics.

Mother's Day

Even though Danny and I spent the morning at Solantic for our sickly selves, I still had a good mother's day. Danny took care of Ashlyn most the afternoon while I laid on the couch trying to feel better from a sinus and ear infection. Danny himself has a throat thing and gunky eyes.

I got a cute card and a very nice watch. Here they are below. I was very surprised. I wish had could have enjoyed it more. But, I look forward to wearing it. I haven't had a watch in years, so I definitely need one.

I couldn't get the watch pic to be clear. My photo skills need some work. It is really pretty with a mother of pearl face and diamond trim.