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!