Baby Shower Gift!

I have been terrible at posting my projects unfortunatly, mostly because I lost all the pictures I had from Christmas and all the hard work I put into them:( Im very frustrated at that but I do need to keep this updated better!! Maybe I can even ask the people I gave the gifts to for xmas if I could have pictures of what I made them! Who knows! lol

I did already post this on another entry, but I wanted to keep a separate spot for all that I put work into! And actually, this one Will helped me with!!;)

My friend Nikole loves Dutch Bros so I found an idea and customized it to make it my own! I drove up and started telling one of the "baristas" my idea for the gift. And even though they arent supposed to, she and all the girls liked my idea so much she gave me what I asked for (plus i bought a coffee and tipped her hehe im so nice!) She handed me a drink carrier of 4 clear bubble topped plastic drink cups. I went to the store right after and found a few "stuffers", then later that night got to work! Will and I created the cutest display of coffee "drinks" ever filled with all sorts of gooddies like receiving blankets, bibs, baby powder, toys, a onesie I had made that says LIAM on it...It turned out very cute and even though she was disappointed it wasnt real coffee HAHAHA she loved it!:) Hard work paid off!

1st Chicken Casserole!!

Im am so thankful that so far Carson is not a picky eater like me! Its a curse I tell ya! I was so picky when I was a kid it was a total pain!! I hope Carson stays just the way he is! He will eat anything put in front of him! Including rocks LOL But seriously! He now has pretty much a full menu besides whole milk, honey, and a few others that have to wait until at least he turns a year. But the big one this month was meat! Once he hit his 8 month marker, I ran out and bought (yes BOUGHT) some jarred baby meat. I wasnt sure (still not 100% sure) I want to homemake all his meet purees. It just doesnt sound very good at all!! BUT i have now made his first Chicken Casserole, with ingredients I have never once cooked with. I actually had to look up want Parsnips and Lentils were! How embarassing! But at least i admit it! I bought up everything my recipe called for, fresh chicken, lentils, parsnips, potatoes, and carrots. It all actually made the house smell amazing!! I was impressed! I now have a freezer bag full of it all pureed and Carson LOVES it! :) Im glad because it was a pain in the butt to make!! lol at least tomorrow i get to make something easy, one of his favorites butternut squash! I love the pop in the oven for 45 minutes and its ready to eat kind of food;)

everything layed out ready to be peeled, chopped, sliced and cooked!

this was the part that smelled delicious!! one of my favorite smells now is parsnips frying on the skillet;)

all done and ready to puree!! (dont mind the boil over marks all around the pan hahaha i made alot!!!)

SpringTime means Bring On the Good Times!

I was looking through my pictures to see what I can update on my blog just now and realized that the month of April was just awesome! I cant believe its already May!! So instead of pinpointing certain events in separate posts, I think im going to do it all at once!:) 

I am going to start with a fun day to remember when Carson, the dogs, and I took a nice long walk down our road and really had some fun! I brought along the sidewalk chaulk (shaped like eggs of course) that the Easter Bunny brought for Carson and we played around with writing his name in the road. To bad it rained the next day but I hope people saw it:)

We continued to walk down the road onto a property we've played around a couple times. But this time we explored a little more (keeping a good distance from the house and being careful not to ruin anything as technically we are trespassers lol) and found some pretty cool stuff like an old boat halfway into the ground that I hope to be able to use for a couple photoshoots in the near future! I did capture on of my all time favorite pictures of Carson here too!:)

captures his personality perfectly :)

A few days later, a good memory for me was involving Diesel. Ever since we brought little Carson home, the pups just kind of acted like he didnt exist, not really interested in anything to do with him. Well now that hes getting older I have started to notice (Diesel especially) somewhat interact with Carson. The day it really hit me, was when Diesel got in trouble for I dont even know what lol I began to scold him and tell him NO and he immediately ran and hid behind Carson! Oh my god it was the funniest thing! I will never ever forget it! And of course I even caught it on camera;)

Through the next several days, we went on a couple more hikes, and even found some small trails we passed about 1000 times and never knew they were there! That was fun to explore! Carson sat on my shoulders and "talked" the whole time so i know he loved it! We even made our way to a close by park to hang out on the swings and play in the grass! As hes getting older, hes loving the park's playground more and more! The swings he didnt even really like a couple months ago! Now he could sit on one forever:)

ready for a hike!

his new favorite spot:)

kisses for momma!

having so much fun together!

we had a great time!

Another fun activity Carson has come to love is the most simple thing in the world...just sitting on our front porch and watching the bugs fly by, the dogs play, or the cars/trucks drive up the mountain. It actually is a blast with him and is pretty much the definition of quality time together:)

another one of my favorite pictures i have ever taken of him <3

i want to frame this one! i love my "kids"!!!

just goofin around;)

We also had an amazing baby shower we went to for our friend's Emmett, Nicole, and Joe's upcoming new baby boy Liam! Carson actually had a blast even though it was all girls besides Emmett who got some practice being a big brother lol he shared (and fed) Carson his very first goldfish! yummm! Carson even got the chewing down really quick, having no teeth and all!!! My little toothless man! haha

the gift Will and I made for the baby shower!!

me and momma to be:)

the boys were even matching! i loved it!

We went on our first quad ride ((FINALLY)) since Christmas!! I had to the front pack, which Carson is now way too big for, and modify it so it could hold him in while i drove...it worked perfect, and he LOVED it! We of course didnt go very fast, but he held on like a champ and just enjoyed the ride! Hes going to be a little motocross lover for sure! 

On one of the rainy days of the month, I had scheduled to run errands around town, and even though it was a poopy day weather wise, I decided to not let it get us down and we went to a park anyway to feed the ducks and geese. We ended up having a complete blast! Carson loved to watch all the birds only a foot or two away from him! Who says you cant have fun on a rainy day?!

To end this long post, I wanted to add that April was the month I mad the decision to start a journey ive been interested in taking for a long time now. PHOTOGRAPHY! Ive really always loved taking pictures, and although I have no where near top quality equipement, nor do I take super fantastic professional pictures, I do have a lot of fun expressing my creativity through a lense and have had many comments and encouragements that it is really something i should pursue! Well ive finally taken that big little step into that world and have two photoshoots set up this weekend! I will either make a separate "Label" for it in this blog to track my work, or I might just create a whole new Blog just for the business! 

Watch out world! 

Here comes ashLie ann Photography!!   

Splish, Splash, & Soak up that Sun!!

me and my little sidekick

The past few days in this cruddy rainy state, have been all but the norm! Summer is around the corner because it is warm and beautiful! (with of course random days of rain still lol) I have been taking Carson outside at least once a day when the sun is out to go for walks, small hikes, and even just play in the dirt and rocks. The past two days have been extra awesome since I pulled out the water table that was given to us before he was born! HE LOVES IT! I grab some buckets and bath toys and he just plays and plays! I am in love with the age he is right now...playing, smiling, being a total goofball! and he cant get into too much trouble yet since hes not 100% mobile yet, just scooting on his butt and "cruising" around tables and couches. Anyway, the water table is his perfect height and today even got to a point where it was warm enough to plop him right in to play like bathtime! LOL Summertime is a whole new experience for him since he was born towards the end last year and we didnt go many places since I had a longer "healing" time and I was on my own as a first time mommy with a newborn! So thats why this summer is extra special! I can already tell we are going to have a blast together! He really is my little sidekick, and I love him more than anything in the world!

very first time with the water table! i think he's in love! ;)

i love how you can see the happiness in his face, and the drips of water all over him from splashing!

the sweetest boy in the world!

"tanning" with Mom hahaha

i love him so much!!

this was the 2nd day, and he loved it just as much as the first!

SOLID solid foods!!!

We have been giving Carson teething crackers and biscuits for almost a month now which he has absolutely LOVED!!! And it has helped me out tons to be able to sit him in his highchair and be able to give him a biscuit to gnaw on while i put away groceries, unload the dishwasher, or even actually make his lunch, which he is usually VERY impatient for! hahaha

A couple days ago we upgraded even more in the solid food world, to actual solid meal foods! For example slices of bananas, pears, peaches, and carrots are what we have tried so far...he loves to be able to pick each piece up and shove it in his mouth, like he does with EVERYTHING he picks up, but this time he is not told he cant eat it! lol if that makes sense! It took his a bit since i started feeding him with a fork one by one, but the next day, ignored his fussing for about a minute, which is when he discovered that feeding himself is WAY MORE fun than Mom doing it!! hehe

Its just so amazing to me and Will how fast he is growing into a little man! Will was surprised how well he has adjusted to this new way of feeding (along with purees and nursing still) Keep in mind Carson doesnt even have TEETH yet!!! I cant believe it! Im sure they are just going to pop out all at once lol but for now, im okay with no teeth to bite my boob;)

banana fun:)

so easy to just cut open and spoon right out like a bowl!!! yum!

Happy 1st Easter

If you know me at all, you know I LOVE any and all holidays. Especially the big ones! I dont know why it is, since I know all the holidays have special meanings to different people besides the fake mascots such as Santa and the Easter bunny. A lot of people hate that people make them about gifts. Well, im just the opposite. I love to give gifts, the anticipation and surprise. Seeing the persons face when opened! Along with the gifts, I love the smiles, laughter, and memories made on these holidays. Yes, those should be everyday, but life happens and you cant be happy everyday of the year! I remember when I was a kid, holidays were my absolute favorite time of the year because of many personal reasons/issues, but all-in-all, everyone had a good time, no matter what was going on in life at the time. I hope and will try my best to have Carson be a much happier child all the time than I was, BUT i still want him to have that same warm feeling during the holidays:)

For Easter, I had been collecting goodies for almost a month for his first basket. I even began a couple months ahead on researching cute photo ideas to share with everyone! Well, I would say all of my hard work as the Easter Bunny paid off!!!! Its even crazy to think about last year at this very time, I had Carson growing in belly, wondering what it would be like to be the Easter Bunny for my very first time!:)

23 weeks pregnant with Carson Tyler...April 8th, 2012 EASTER DAY

Easter morning, we woke up to follow eggs to the baskets set up in the living room. Carson had so much fun following the trail of eggs! :) Then once he got to his basket, of course he was in heaven! He loved everything in it!!! Including the foil wrapped chocolate lol just for fun we opened one up to let him taste, he hated it, all he wanted was the foil wrapped ones ;) hahaha silly boy! 

After all the fun of looking through our goodies, we collected a bunch of eggs in a basket, and headed down by the creek to enjoy the warm sunny day and just enjoy each other! It was awesome! Carson had so much fun and such a great day with Mom and Dad. I love my little family so much!!!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

OUR LITTLE FAMILY 2013

trail of eggs!!

found the baskets!!

pups begging for their homemade goodies!!!

ready to go play in the sun!

Daddy & son

Momma lovin her family time!!!

i love him <3 forever and always

growing up so fast!!!!

By the way, we SHOULD HAVE HAD more professional family pictures done by now, BUT, the day before the scheduled shoot, Carson received his first black eye...more serious than the last time he bumped his face down by the creek...go figure!!!!

had to share just one more picture....

he is just going to love me when hes older;) hahahahahahahaha

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy

Before Christmas, we were pleasantly surprised to see how much Carson LOVES aquariums! We did a shopping trip out to Cabela's, and under their huge rock/mountain display of cool animals (taxidermy), we found they had about 15 feet of a tunneled out aquarium. We walked in and saw Carson's eyes light up!! He was looking everywhere and all the beautiful scenery and fish, completely mezmorized! 

The next stop was obviously a big aquarium, but the new Portland one I had been hearing wasnt finished yet. We were/still are planning on going to the Seaside or Newport one this summer! Well, my Mom came to visit the beginning of February, and we decided to take a day trip to Seattle. We were eating lunch overlooking the water, when we saw the big Seattle Aquarium below:) We couldnt resist and went straight over! It was the coolest experience!! Carson loved every second!!! He even got to play in the water like he loves to do and touch a starfish! It was definitely an experience to remember!!!

Along with the Seattle trip while my mom was visiting, we spent a day at the Portland Children's Museum, and as you can see below...he even loves their little fishy display;)

Basically what I am getting at, is my son L.O.V.E.S to watch any fish in any aquarium at any time;) 

SOOOOOOO.................

that of course meant that we wanted to get Carson a tank of his very own:):):) 

 We started by going to the petstore of course to see what they had for set-ups and fish. Our first day, im not kidding when I saw we were there for about 2 hours!! We asked questions, talked about what we were actually wanting and what would be best for Carson to be able to fully enjoy! After we Picked out our tank, we started looking at the fish AGAIN to add up the prices of all we were going to get that day with our tank setup. I asked for a piece of paper and pen to keep track of what we wanted, and while he did give me something to take notes on, he decided then was a good time to tell us that since we didnt have our tank set up yet, we couldnt get any fish. For a whole week. :o I can take some of the blame for this for not walking in more prepared and educated about what we were doing, BUT it was obvious around the first hour we were there we had no idea what we were doing. Will was furious at the lack of customer service, since he just stood there the whole time watching us. We left soon after that empty handed.

The next day, I decided to start some research. Oh man, was I surprised! There is so much we had no clue about!! I also became frustrated when I learned that the associate who "helped" us the first time, really half-assed on giving out information even more than we thought. Ugh, he was awful. Anyway, I read and researched until my eyes hurt! There's a lot more to it than we ever thought! I do have to say though, it was fun:) We ended up looking at fish at Petco next (we went to Petsmart first) to find different variety too, but crap for tank display. We went back to Petsmart (of course our employee of the month was working) to get our tank we originally picked out. We didnt say one word to Dill-Weed and had some fun picking out our decor. We went straight home to set up! Even empty, when we were done it looked better than we expected!!:) I sat my butt down to research even more after.

We went to a completely different Petsmart the next day to check out what they had for fish! The best place we've been so far! And this time was a breeze! I felt so much better about what we were looking at and the questions we were asking the awesome girl who was helping us! All of that reading paid off! We left with our first three "starter fish", some food, a water test kit, and even ran into the Dollar Tree for a log journal to keep track of water testing. Almost sound like pros;) hahaha We were so excited to get our first little guys back and in their new home! And we cant wait to get even more this week!! Its been a blast watching them chase each other and hang out in our living room! Carson has the coolest play corner that ive seen;) Lucky lucky boy!!

you can see our 3 little platies in there:)

play corner!!!!

This is such a fun experience for us as a family! I had boring little Bettas when I was little so I never got to enjoy the fun of having a whole tank set up! As Carson grows, he will be able to help Mommy and Daddy take care of them, making him feel more important and of course teach him responsibility:) Couldnt be happier with our decision! And now our living room is so much more alive!!!!