Wednesday, November 30, 2011

wordless{ish} wednesday: parker & duncan. best friends.

parker got to hang out with his best little buddy duncan while on vacay last weekend.  they're such good friends that they already coordinate their outfits together.





 and when duncan seemed bored sitting in his carseat waiting to go, parker entertained his little friend with colander-on-the-head jokes.  cause that's what best friends do.


{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemonthe paper mama, & a little king & i}

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

november {medium} sponsor love!

here are a few more new blogs & fun shops for you to check out!  and be sure you do.  they're some of my favorites!

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{etsy}  {blog}  {facebook}
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{etsy}  {blog}  {facebook}
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Monday, November 28, 2011

our week by iPhone - week 54

well, we're back.  and just like every other vacay i have mixed emotions about being home.  on one hand we're back in our own beds on our normal routine in the normal swing of things however boring it may be, it's also kinda nice.  but mostly?  boo!  vacation's over.

we had an awesome time.  you may have noticed it was pretty much crickets over here on the ol' blog because on this trip?  vacation meant vacation.  besides some internet surfing & some facebook checking, i spent last week's long weekend pretty much unplugged & it was niiiiccce.  i realized going to bed before 1:00 am & at the same time as sam was kinda awesome.  and that watching a movie without a computer on your lap & a blog post hanging over your head is pretty sweet too.

i needed that time away.  and i also realized that i probably need to start putting less pressure on myself about this here blog.  my sleep & my sanity & my family are pretty much priorities numero uno & that's gonna mean a lot less late nights staying up with the interwebz.  but this is probably info for another post...

anywho, here's our week!


{pilgrim babies.  family picture outfits.  road trip lunch.  
driving over the snowy pass.  hanging out.  mini mozart.  
baby hangout.  thanksgiving feasting.  my grandma & grandpa!  
ryan, christie, parker & duncan.  parker & duncan going for a walk.  driving home.}

i wasn't too great about taking millions of pictures every day.  i managed to get a few snapshots here & there & this is what we ended up with.

we trekked over the mountains to spend thanksgiving with our friends ryan & christie & their cute little five month old, duncan.  we got to see lots of friends & family, meet a new baby & visit with my amazing 98 year old grandma & 92 year old grandpa!  and i am so excited to have these pictures with parker & his great-grandparents.

hope everyone had an awesome holiday & are as excited as i am for christmas!  i am totally a you-don't-celebrate-christmas-until-after-thanksgiving kinda girl so now i'm totally ready to go full swing into christmas mode this week.  bring on the music, the decorations & the shopping.  hooray!

happy monday friends.

that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

...and get on the linky here:

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

wordless{ish} wednesday: thankful.

well, ya knew it was coming.  a thankful post.  i would be totally lame & ungrateful if i didn't touch on some of the amazing things in my life, so here it is.

i am so in love with this time of year.  and i don't know what it is but for some reason this year's holiday season feels particularly special.  maybe it's because parker is actually more aware of christmas tree lights & santa & i'm super anxious to watch his reaction christmas morning now that he actually gets excited over new toys.  and now he actually dances with me in the living room when i blast christmas music rather than sit in his bouncer watching me like a crazy person {i know right?  why would he look at me like that?} like he did last year.  to get to show these things to a little guy for the first{ish} time is pretty exciting.

and?  i'm just happy.  i'm in a good place.  i don't want anyone to think my life is perfect, that i don't have things i wish were different or that my life is all rainbows & puppies because it's not.  i just don't choose to regularly dwell on the bad things.  because i have too much to be thankful for.  i have an amazing husband who loves our little boy more than words can describe.  i have a healthy, happy little boy who surprises me every day with how much i feel love for him.  i never knew i would feel physical pit-in-the-bottom-of-my-stomach love for this little guy.  and that nearly every day, i would stop & have to choke back tears because of how amazing he is.  seriously, that happens.  i'm totally nerdy that way.

and lastly, i am grateful for all the things i've figured out about myself in this last year.  turns out i like crafts, i can sew {new development this year} & photography has become my main creative outlet.  capturing the emotions of kids & couples & families & then making it into a piece of art for them to have forever is exhilarating to me.  for reals.  i always feel this crazy "high" coming home from a shoot when i know i've gotten some good shots & totally brought my a-game.  it makes me happy.

so there it is.


we are heading out of town for the holiday so i'm not sure when i'll be posting over the weekend.  i'm not really sure when week in iphotos will be up either... i'm not gonna stress about it.  i'm gonna wear stretchy pants, eat lots of turkey & shop at crowded stores.  i'm gonna attempt to have my family's picture taken, watch parker play with babies & visit with friends & family.  i might return ten pounds heavier than when we left but that's ok... it's what new year's resolutions are for.  and who wants to look skinny in family pictures, anyways?

i hope you all have a great holiday spending time with the ones you love.  be grateful for everything you have, even if at times it doesn't feel like much.  you can always find something to be grateful for.

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemonthe paper mama, & a little king & i}

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

love me some {large} sponsors.

it seems like this month everyone is talking about what they're thankful for.  i'm thankful for awesome people who like me & like this here little blog enough to wanna be a part of it.  so here ya go, the folks who are a {large} part of my blog this month!

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"soul singing liv"  {blog}


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scentsy independent consultant - jessica norris {online shop}


*****************************


I'm Ashley, and I blog over at The Shine Project.

I created The Shine Project at the beginning of this year to motivate others to go after their goals, and spread their light to others. I believe that service is the best way to feel happiness and love in our lives, and I created SHINE necklaces to help remind us of our daily purpose.

Money from each necklace sold goes into a scholarship fund to help inner city high school students go to college. You can read more about that HERE and HERE. The Shine Project is in the process of becoming a Non-Profit organization so that thousands more students can have a positive future.

***********

and did you enter our giveaway for a super cute necklace from the shine project?  because here's the winner!


*****************************

"photography by amylee"  {website}  {blog}


*********************************

now go show these guys some love!!

Monday, November 21, 2011

the weekend of wang.


what would you do if you had the entire weekend to yourself?

drink nothing but chocolate milk?  sew til 2 am?  sleep in til 9:30?  check, check & check.

because this last weekend i did.  sam took parker over to eastern washington to visit his parents & go to a washington state football game while i stayed back to hang out with girlfriends & shoot a family session.

thus: the legendary weekend of wang.
{if you can't remember where i got the nickname of "wang", you may need to revisit this post.}

at first i thought it was crazy.  i told sam i had a girl's night out planned for friday & also had a family shoot on saturday.  "hmmmm, ok." he replied, "i think parker & i will go to my parent's this weekend & i'm gonna go to a wsu game with my dad."

you guys?  it's a six hour drive to sam's parents.  parker has NEVER been that far away from me.  i have never been away from him for longer than a night.  i didn't believe it.  but then?  it sounded amazing.  having the house all to myself for two days & two nights?  for the first time in TWO YEARS?  oh the possibilities!  i could sew.  i could paint.  i could edit.  i could blog!  i could... do laundry?  yes, it was on the list.  while watching a chick flick!  i could do all these things without regard to nap time.

by the time sam & parker had the car loaded up & were driving away it was all i could do to keep the giant smile off my face.  don't get me wrong... i love my husband & my kid more than words but one little weekend to myself?  glorious.

i had pretty big plans.  besides the girls night & the family session, all my plans involved me being locked up inside my house like a hermit with lots of loud music.  i only got about half the things on my list accomplished but it was pretty awesome nonetheless.  to get to be nothing other than me for one weekend.  not a wife, not a mom, just me.  it was needed.

and by the end of those two days?  i needed the boys in my life back.  i missed 'em & they missed me.  distance truly makes the heart grow fonder.  and i'm so grateful for a husband that isn't afraid to take his kid off on his own & give me a little distance every now & then.

i'm a lucky girl.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

our week by iPhone - week 53

here we go... the first week in our second year of the weekly camera phone link up!  it was a good one.  lots of errand running, p-ray shenanigans & photo shoots.  typical.


monday.  parker started our week off right by emptying out all the canned goods onto the kitchen floor.  isn't that how you like to start your monday?  then we put on our matchy-matcherson chucks & ran errands.  i love my little shoe twin mini me.

monday ended with some typical sam/parker antics & a cute sleeping baby snuggled up in bed with his sheep pillow.  


tuesday.  parker enjoys piling up all the balls we own & then looking mischievous while i enjoy having eyebrows with some shape.  who has two thumbs & is sold on eyebrow threading?  this girl.

tuesday afternoon i got to take some maternity pics for my bestie.  this is how i do.


wednesday.  sometimes eating oatmeal is better when you use two spoons.  double the pleasure, double the fun.  we met up with sam at costco where parker stopped to admire a motorcycle on display... his papa would be sooooo proud.  {this one's for you papa n.!!}


thursday.  i packed parker up to take him over to heather & kaylee's while i headed to work on a yucky rainy day.  p-ray got to go to story time & obviously toyed with the idea of making a move on kaylee.  i stopped by the craft store on my lunch hour & got a little bit giddy at all the christmas paraphernalia, the smell of cinnamon & the christmas music playing.  it's like christmas!

during bath time parker made it rain & then got his face smooshed while i smooched him.  parker & sam played pretend "nigh-night" before bed... it's one of parker's favorite games.  {pretending to be asleep & then cracking up when he opens his eyes & surprise!  isn't asleep.  the cuteness is off the charts.}


friday.  parker got right to work emptying the cupboards & then hydrated at target through a silly straw.  apparently this was all very exhausting so he recouped on the floor with his pillow & sheep friend.

friday night was girl's night to say goodbye to our sweet friend angela who is leaving us & moving to canada!!  sad!  we will miss her & her cute face.  hey angela, enjoy all the hockey & maple syrup & don't forget about us, eh?

that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

...and get on the linky here:

Friday, November 18, 2011

flashback friday: a year in iPhone pics.

so i mentioned i completed a year in iPhone pics right?  well, i did.  and it's been an awesome year.  my first "week in iPhone pics" was posted november 20, 2010 & had 14 blogs link up.  i've now posted 52 weeks in iPhone pics & have had as many as 62 blogs link up at a time.  

you guys, if you're not taking out your phone to snap those every day moments that seem too minor for a full-on camera, you should probably start now.  i'm so excited to have these snapshots of our life to look back on & remember what life with my little family was like in parker's first year of human-hood.  because it's fun.

so here's a highlight reel of our entire year in iPhone pics.  some of my favorites from november '10 to november '11, in chronological order.  

truth bomb:  you're about to scroll through lots of pictures.  and it was hard to narrow it down to this many!

you've been warned.


every day just gets more & more fun with this little guy.  can't wait to see what the next year in iPhone pics brings!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

wordless{ish} wednesday: we did it.

we surrendered our kid's ever-growing mullet to a pro.  


as  you can see, it went really well.  more pictures to come.

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemonthe paper mama, & a little king & i}

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

wish every day could be like sunday.





we had another busy & awesome weekend.  i really need to come up with another word besides awesome to describe things.  how about rad?  we had a rad weekend.  we ran errands, went out to eat, i shot two family sessions, went to a three year old's birthday party & slept in til 9:30.  thank you sam.

but my favorite day?  is usually sunday.  especially the ones where sam gets the crazy idea to make something new for breakfast.  this sunday was buttermilk-chocolate-chip-pancakes.  from scratch.  yeah, that happened.  have i mentioned my husband's favorite food is all things breakfast food?  i like that about him.

sundays are usually spent in our pajamas ninety percent of the time... the other ten percent we dress up for church.  so then that means after church my hair is all done, i'm makeupped & i've done something with my day.  but i'm right back in my pj's.  i like that about sundays, too.  there's something about lounging around in baggy sweats & a t-shirt with cute hair... am i right?

what's your favorite day of the week?

Monday, November 14, 2011

it's giveaway day: necklace from "the shine project"


it's giveaway day, yay!

i'm so so excited to bring you a giveaway that benefits an amazing cause.  i not only encourage entering this one so you can win a super cute necklace for yourself, i recommend heading right on over to ashley's site & buying ten more for all your friends!  because they are affordable like that.  especially when you use my exclusive discount code at the end of this post!

so here to tell you about the giveaway is Ashley of The Shine Project.  what she is doing is so selfless & amazing & well, i'll just let her tell you about it herself!

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Photobucket

I'm Ashley, and I blog over at The Shine Project.

I created The Shine Project at the beginning of this year to motivate others to go after their goals, and spread their light to others. I believe that service is the best way to feel happiness and love in our lives, and I created SHINE necklaces to help remind us of our daily purpose.

Money from each necklace sold goes into a scholarship fund to help inner city high school students go to college. You can read more about that HERE and HERE. The Shine Project is in the process of becoming a Non-Profit organization so that thousands more students can have a positive future.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Today, I am giving away a shine necklace to one lucky winner!

And ALL of you will receive 10% off of your total order!

Go HERE to see more shine necklaces and order information. There are even options to personalize your necklace with dates and initials...and are affordable holiday gifts! In your email order, write GoodLife10 for your code.

Here's how to enter (Leave a comment for each!):

1.  Comment below with who you'd give shine necklaces to

For extra entries:

2. Follow The Shine Project blog HERE

3. Like The Shine Project on FB HERE

I cant wait to meet all of you!

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thanks Ashley.
there ya go!  three chances to win.  

giveaway ends november 20 at 11:59 pm pst.  

Saturday, November 12, 2011

our week by iPhone - week 52

and here we are, week fifty-two.  i officially have an entire year's worth of weekdays recorded through iPhone pics & posted on the ol' blog.  so that's cool.  i have loved hosting this link-up meme & don't even have to think twice about whether i'll do it another year... ummm, YES.  i love looking back at what we were doing six, ten, or twelve months back & seeing how parker has changed & reliving those every day moments.  so much fun.

if you haven't been linking up, you should do it!  start now & just start by one picture a day.  or two. or be crazy like me & do six.  post 'em, link up, & get excited about having an awesome visual journal of your year that will put you right back in those moments when you look back.  it's crazy.  i look back at our first week in iPhone pics & i can't believe how it just seems like yesterday.  time flies muh friends.

anywho, here's week fifty-two.


monday.  our old friends ryan & christie were in town from spokane all day so sam took the day off & we had family day.  it started with parker & five month old duncan bonding over some sesame street in the lazy boy & then ended up at the mall for some shopping & eyebrow threading.  yes, christie talked me into the eyebrow-hair-plucking madness & i think i kinda liked it.

that night parker & duncan bonded some more.  parker was asking duncan to touch his face & then giggling like a little monkey when he did.  cutest thing ever.  i'd be lying if i said it didn't make me excited for him to be a big brother some day.


tuesday.  parker & i kinda slept in & missed stroller strides, so we took advantage of the sunny crisp fall day & went for a run.  it was the first time i had gone running in a couple months & it felt GREAT.  parker liked it too.  almost as much as he liked lining up all his cars on the coffee table when we got back inside.  goofball.


wednesday.  have i ever mentioned how parker & i count down the minutes until sam gets home?  seriously.  once he walks in that door he & parker are inseparable.  they're pretty much bffs.


thursday.  i worked in the office & got to sit through some totally awesome training that i had absolutely no problem staying awake for!  {that was for my co-workers who read the blog... *yawn*}.

then i drove home in the pitch black... yes, at 4:30.  daylight savings schmaylight savings.  but it was all made ok when i got to peak into the bathroom at two of my favorite little heineys leaning over the bath tub.


friday.  we started our day off with some stroller strides & a mustache mo-vember playdate before heading to p-ray's eighteen month check up.  we celebrated 11:11 am on 11/11/11 by hanging out in the exam room & taking pictures to commemorate the moment.  what'd you do?

then we went home where parker emptied out my cupboard on the kitchen floor in a very tidy line.  i think he was trying to tell me how approximately a quarter of those cans were expired & needed to be thrown out.  thanks p-ray.  mental note taken.

we partied it up friday night with some college basketball watching, p-ray's first haircut & dinner at the costco food court.  because we're classy like that.

that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

...and get on the linky here:

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

wordless{ish} wednesday: hair cut fail.

i've mentioned a couple times how we're pretty excited parker is establishing a legitimate head of hair.  it's only taken him eighteen months to grow it & we're pretty proud.  however, it does tend to be a little unruly & could possibly even be classified as a mullet in some parts.  i think i once referred to it on here as a "skullet."  shhhh, don't tell parker.

last sunday sam decided he had had enough & wanted to try & trim up the thick, long hairs in the back & the stringy, thin hairs on the sides that fall over parker's ears.  i gave him the go ahead as long as he knew i'd probably kill him if he messed something up.

he set up a chair & some books & i of course grabbed my camera.




parker resisted.  he pushed away at the scissors & gave pathetic little whines that instantly broke our hearts.  about thirty seconds into the hair cut, it was over.  with all original hairs in tact & no trimmings to show for it.

how could you say no to this face?

we're calling in the pros this week.  and i think a little candy/sucker/milkshake/movie bribery might be in order.  books just didn't cut it.  haha, i'm punny.

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemonthe paper mama, & a little king & i}

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

weekend adventures.










we had a perfect weekend.

there was a quick trip down to portland to shop & visit family & an awesome mini adventure involving food cart burgers & starbucks hot chocolates.  sam may or may not have ordered his hamburger served between two grilled cheese sandwiches which was surprisingly delicious.

we came back home to host friends from out of town for a couple nights & made our weekend stretch out a little longer.  sam took monday off & i took a couple days off from computer things to enjoy the family & friends.  it kinda makes me think more time away from the computer is in order.  but who am i kidding?  i can't quit you.

i hope everyone had a great weekend & made the most of the extra hour.  now if someone could just help me figure out how to make parker realize he's supposed to sleep an hour longer, i'd be much appreciative.  because my night owl ways aren't adjusting well to the 6:30 am wake up time.  ouch.
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