My 2 1/2 year old is such a big girl. I love getting to ditch the pants and sweaters for summer clothes! 

 Devin's best friend Tommy and his family had one night left in Seattle so we decided to have a big dinner with some of our other close friends. Jamie was gracious enough to have it at her parents home. Holy cow was it a great night. We all brought food for a big BBQ, lit off some fireworks, played, and chatted all night..or until 10pm.

 On Saturdays I know we have lots of house projects to do but it's hard not wanting to spend it going on adventures. We decided to go hit some golf balls as a little family. So entertaining. My favorite part was Chloe watching Devin and I and saying 'ready set go! woohoo!'

 We started painting our kitchen during Chloe's nap time and then it was off to another adventure. We went to Seattle and canoed over by UW with my brother in-law and his fiance. Chloe got her own kid paddle which was adorable. Another couple canoeing gave us a bag of doritos to feed to the baby ducks..Chloe ate half the bag. She was also 1 pound under to be able to canoe but we talked them into letting us rent one anyway. Then we met up with more family for burgers and shakes.

 Another fun hair-do for Chloe at church on Sunday.

My dad had a work trip to Hawaii so we babysat my childhood dog Petey for a week and a half. I know that Chloe would love a dog. It was so much fun seeing her take care of him. BUT, the dog HAIR. Oh my gosh. A huge clean freak like me can't take it (hence the blankets covering the couch and the rugs put up.) Overall though, I would say it was a great experience for Chlo. 

 I love shopping with her..most of the time!

 She was on a hair strike for a while, only letting me put a small braid in her hair every day. Now, she totally lets me do whatever most of the time so I have been experimenting with all kinds of styles. It's still pretty hard to do much with a crazy two year old's hair but it has been fun for me.

Most of the spring blooms have passed since we had such a warm winter but the rhododendrons are in full force right now in Seattle. It's such a Washington plant to me and I loveee seeing them bloomed everywhere we go.

Long time no blog! 

I finally went to the Maltby Cafe. Every one in this area talks about how it is the best breakfast place around. I went with some friends to surprise Gentree (the one in the middle) for her birthday. Highly recommend eating there!

 This cheesy face reminds me of myself at her age!

 The onlyyyy photo I got of Chloe and I on mother's day. Obviously she was cooperating so well. I was so bummed this year. Devin got so sick with the flu so we couldn't do anything special. Luckily, we spent the day before in Seattle doing all kinds of fun things. ps. that is my UGLY back yard...which is the next house project on our list.

 I've been on a reading kick lately. We go to story time and the park every Tuesday with friends so it makes it easy for me to order a book and have it on hold for me when I get there.

 Oh you know...just a fire happened right outside our house. Idiot next to me had a pressure washer catch on fire and I thought my house was going to burn down. Thank goodness for fire fighters.

 They melt me. I love that Devin can have one on one time with her. He always tells me the funniest stories when they get back from their little dates.

 I threw a baby shower for my friend Jen last week. We got a private room at a delish Italian restaurant. The food was so good and I laughed the entire night. I REALLY love these girls. Always a good time.

 For some reason she always wants to snuggle Dev in the morning and wake him with a kiss!

 Finally we have finished our white baseboards in the down stairs. I am so happy with how they turned out! We have been so busy lately but I am realllyyy hoping we can paint the banister that goes upstairs and the downstairs doors white. Our next project after this will be my DYI farm house table that I have wanted from Restoration Hardware. I really want to get these two things done before we have to start working on our yard.

 This girl this week has just been so sweet. Loving how much she loves her daddy.

 I think its a fun memory to document our little meals together. For lunch we had salad, fish sticks, and raspberries and oranges.

Chloe always gives Devin a big kiss and hug before he leaves for work and yells 'have a good day'. Sometimes she gets sad when he leaves and runs outside to watch him drive away. This one morning he was about to leave and she said 'daddy, sit here'. She kills me with her cuteness. And, I love that she is wearing a tank top and panties. 

Sometimes it's easy to forget we live close to so much water when it is freezing out! We had lots of house projects going on over the weekend but Dev and I thought we should take a break and enjoy a family outing since it was such a pretty day. We went to the Kirkland Waterfront for a long walk and played at the play ground. 

 A few girl friends of mine had a girls night out. We could chat each other's ears off. It was nice to just eat, play games, and gab about everything.

 Chloe had a playdate with her friend Paisley. Her mom Jen moved to WA. from Utah a few months ago and we have started to become good friends. I hope they become little besties too.

About three weeks ago we started potty training! Chloe was showing lots of signs she was ready but I reallyyy didn't want to take the 'potty train in 3 days' approach. The 3 day training sounded torturous for both of us. I decided to just have her in panties at home and diaper when we are out and just ask her when I thought she would need to go. Needless to say, she is a ROCKSTAR. I'm really happy we took the approach we did. She didn't expect any treats and she felt no pressure. She just goes when she needs to. 

Our potty training experience was a dream come true. The only thing we have to get down is night time.  Go Chloe!

Had one last play date before one of my best friends had her second baby, Koko!

 Making all things in heart shapes the week of Valentine's Day. I love to make this easy healthy pancake recipe for Chloe and I in the morning. Just two eggs and one banana with a little cinnamon and vanilla in it.

 We hadn't visited Devin's office in a while so we decided to surprise him and eat lunch with him one afternoon. It turned out to be a sunny afternoon so we walked along the water to the restaurant. He works in such a pretty location.

The day of Valentine's Day Devin's brother, Brendin proposed to his girlfriend Emily at Snoqualmie Falls. We all went golfing after to celebrate.

 Chloe is my biggest source of entertainment. Always has to take a purse and pretend phone when we are out.

Every other Wednesday I work with the 10-11 year old girls at church. I plan a little activity for them. This week I had my friends Jamie and Larissa come teach them a jump rope class. Larissa and Jamie teach jump rope classes to kids of all ages and so it was so fun to see them with these girls. 

Devin and I celebrated our 6 YEARS of marriage a couple weeks ago. So cliche, but it's true that time really does FLY!  I feel so old saying 6 years. I was thinking about how blessed I feel to have found the love of my life at only 20 years old. He really is my best friend. 

Because the date landed on a 3 day weekend we wanted to plan a little vacation just us but I told Dev I thought it would be better to put our time and money into working on our home and to save it for next year. 

We left Chloe at Dev's parents and we went to Bellevue and ate at a Thai restaurant at the Bravern.  

We went to a sweet bakery for dessert in old Bellevue. 

 I got the macaroon and he got the peach crisp...or maybe I ate half of his and ordered another macaroon too. HA!

 We did some shopping afterward and just had a really great chat about life. I love this guy forever.

Chloe has never really had a bad cold before. Maybe a runny nose for 2 days but that is about it. Last week she was as sick as I have ever seen her. We took her to the doctor and there they told me she had a fever of 105! I broke down crying. I felt horrible that I hadn't taken her to the emergency room and instead was more worried about not being an over dramatic mom. If there is one thing about motherhood I have learned, it is that my instinct is most always right and to never listen to what others tell me. 

It took what felt like forever to get her well again. As soon as she was better, Devin and I got hit with colds. Luckily, I think we are on the up now. 

Since it is winter and we can't do much work on our yard, we have been working on projects inside. Although this house was built in 2006, it still was built with light wood baseboards and light wood doors. So ugly! Devin and I decided we wanted to rip them out and put white ones in. He is all about doing projects in the house by himself. I love his passion for working on our home and doing it himself but, it has been hard for me to not go crazy with a half torn apart house. I'm trying really hard this year to embrace it and TRY to enjoy the process.
Here you can kind of see the white casing of the bathroom door that Devin installed. And in the back the ugly light brown door we took out for now.

 Here he is working on all of the boards. Hoping to have this project finished for the down stairs by February. Fingers crossed!

 I felt like these past couple weeks I was getting in a winter rut. This week the sun came out. It was freezing butt cold but I forced us outside even with my cold. It made SUCH a difference to our week. It's amazing what sun and fresh air can do for the body, and soul.

 My grandma sent Chloe such great gifts for Christmas. One was called a 'busy box' which is full of simple crafts Chloe can do. I had never seen one of them before and am for sure going to buy another once we have finished all the crafts.
The other gift my grandma cut out thousands of different shapes on construction paper and put them in different bags so Chloe could take them out and glue them. She is obsessed! Thankful we have some fun activities to do in the winter.

Like everyone else I can't believe that the new year is already here. I hate to say goodbye to 2014. We were blessed beyond measure. Our greatest change and biggest accomplishment was buying our first home back in July. We also got to travel to Florida, San Diego, and Idaho, which were some great highlights of our year. 

This New Year's Eve we went over to our friend Jamie's house. We actually spent these two babies first New Year's together 2 years ago. Time flies! 

We ate some yummy food her mom made and chatted and played card games. 

 I meannnn. I die looking at this. Next time they will be teenagers for crying out loud.

 We spent new year's day starting new house projects. In the evening I made a fancy Italian dinner, roasted veggies in a balsamic honey glaze along along side a chicken dish with spinach and cream sauce rolled in it.
Devin and I decided we want to start each new year with a family theme that we will try to live by for the year. Before we ate we started with prayer, and then I gave a little family devotional about what our family theme would be this year.
I decided it would be 'adding an extra measure of kindness to our family members' . I found a scripture in Ephesians that talks about kindness and cheerfulness. This year we are devoting ourselves to being more thoughtful and loving when it comes to each other and to our extended family (brothers, sisters, and parents).

Happy New Year! I hope Dev and I can create a wonderful 2015 together!

I wish our amazing Christmas weekend wouldn't end. It was one of my favorite so far. On Christmas Eve we hosted a dinner at our house. My sister came into town with my grandma and her best friend. My dad also came and brought our family dog for Chloe to play with. 

 After dinner I planned some minute to win it games for us. We had too many laughs. I love to have games whenever we have guests over. After that, we made a gingerbread house and relaxed by the fire.

 She loves Petey so much. If I was a nice mom, I would take him but...I'm not.

We were so excited Christmas morning to open all our gifts. The favorite gift of all was the electric helicopter I got Devin. They played with it all morning. Also, Chloe got a Bitty Baby from my mom which was also a favorite. 

 Christmas messes. Ps. our next home project is putting in new white baseboards, installing blinds, and adding a light fixture to our entry way.

 In the evening we went to Devin's parents house. I love seeing Chloe with her uncles.

 After that we headed over to my dad's house for more food and present opening. All 3 sisters were together and we all got matching jammies.

We had the best Christmas. I think Chloe was extra happy because Emma was in town. She loves my sister to death. I know they will grow up to be so close. I love my family and the fun we had together over the Christmas Season. 

Chloe made her first ornament at nursery. I love it so much. Now we will always have her little hand print!