28 years old

For some reason this year I was really NOT looking forward to my birthday. It was the first time I ever felt weird about getting another year older. Who knows why...maybe my stars weren't aligning:). Richie kept asking me what I wanted to do and I told him that I didn't really care if we did anything at all. The day of my birthday came around and we pretty much just lounged around all day. Finally around one, he said that we had dinner reservations at five, so we needed to get ready. We headed up to Stanley and Seaforts for what I thought was going to be a quiet dinner with just the two of us. However, that sweet husband of mine had called a few people earlier in the week and put together a little surprise party/dinner. We were met at the restaurant by my parents, Marie, Kora, Jessica, and Jesse. It ended up being a wonderful birthday!!!After dinner, we went back to my parents house for cake and ice cream and to open some gifts. My sweet husband...he took a day that I was not looking forward to and made it very special. He is so great.

So, I have started another year of my life. I still feel a little weird about being 28, but at least I ended up having a great birthday!!!

Oops...

I completely forgot to blog about this cute event...a few weeks ago we went down to Tenino to the Winter Wonderland. It was such a cute, festive event where everyone, in the whole town, was still able to shout "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!" without the worry of being politically incorrect:). The high school marching band was there playing Christmas carols, the cheerleaders were passing out candy canes, the booster club was serving hot chocolate. So cute!! I love those small town events and have made it a vow to go every year from here on out. It made me happy.

Here are my parents waiting for Santa to get there...Oh yeah, I forgot to previously mention that it was also about 10 degrees outside, seriously!!!!!!!!! Here comes Santa on a fire truck. While everyone was waiting for him, the Tenino bike gang was putting on a little show.

Here is Sophs telling Santa what she wants for Christmas.

Now, here we are...warm and cozy, back at Kyle and Amy's.

The Hussey Men.

Pretty Sophia...ready for bed in her fancy night gown!

The little girls...well, that is what our family has always called us:).

Babies...also, a little bit of twins...just born 9 years apart:).

It was a great night and really put me in the Christmas mood. Sorry about forgetting to post this earlier:).

Annual Christmas Party

Last weekend we had our annual Christmas party at Willie and Peg's house, two of our very close friends. Willie and I have known each other since third grade and we have all stayed close friends. A few years after we graduated from high school, Willie decided to start having a Christmas party every year so that all of our close friends could get together while we were home from college. Well, now we are a bit older and still love getting together. I have to admit though, we were much more "grown" up this year than we were at twenty, when we first started having the party!! I mean, we even have babies come to the party now!!! Joey Swanson's daughter made her first appearance at the Christmas party this year, and of course, Richie had to play with her for a bit. Look at those cheeks!! Isn't she a doll? Here we are in front of the tree.

Right before we left, we insisted on taking a picture with Willie and Peg, who did a great job hosting a very fun party!! The party was the night before my birthday, so they had some fun jello shots for everyone to take at midnight after they sang happy birthday to me. It was really sweet.

It was such a great night, with great friends. Richie and I are blessed to have been able to stay so close with the people who we spent most of our childhood's with.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Abby's first tailgate

A few weeks back, I had some pictures to take up north (see Farrow family below). I wasn't going to take the pictures until the evening, so I went up early to spend most of the day with Kim and Abby. We decided to head over to the Husky tailgate for a little bit so that Abby could visit her Dad. This was her first tailgate, so of course I had to take some pictures!!

Here she is right when we found Zack. I loved the sun flare in this picture. Cute little purple hat...doesn't she make a good DAWG?

Feeding and beer...super ccccllllaaaaaassssyyyyy!!!

Right when we were getting ready to leave, I ran into some Tri Deltas. I had not seen these girls in a really long time so it was great fun running into them.

Such a fun time!! Kimberly and I rarely get to hang out with just the two of us, so it was great to get some quality time with her and Abs. Hopefully soon I will be able to afford Husky season tickets of my own. Then I could go to all the tailgates:).

Hula Girl

After getting the Christmas tree we all went back to my parents house to hang out. Sophia cracks me up...she found this grass skirt and Joe's "Guitar Hero"...put them together = great performance. Look how cute this little hula girl is!!! The outfit she has on was a gift from my grandparents to my oldest sister, Michelle. It is 35 years old and straight from Hawaii!!

The skirt didn't quite close all the way in the back, but Sophia still rocked it...who cares if people see your undies, right? Then she found another musical instrument, which plays "Oh Susanna"...does it get any better?

Lastly, here she is as Ariel. The ottoman is suppose to be the rock that Ariel sits on. While she was doing this she made me sing the Little Mermaid song and she kind of danced around on the rock. Too funny!!

This girl cracks me up!!! Tonight, we are going to the Rockettes up in Seattle and I cannot wait to see how she responds to the dancing and fancy clothes!! I will definitely have some pictures for you all to view.

Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree...

My husband, Richie is allergic to Christmas trees. How crazy is that !?!?!? I have always loved going to pick out a tree and cut it down. I love the way the trees smell and drinking hot chocolate while walking around trying to pick one out. However, due to Richie's allergy, we have to have a fake tree...which does not require us to go to a tree farm, pick out perfect tree, and cut it down ourselves. Therefore, every year I still go with my parents to help them pick out their tree.

Here are Joe and I proudly displaying our choice. My Dad thought he would be funny and act as if he was cutting something else...if you get my point...:)

I just thought the sky looked really cool in this picture.

It was really funny because as we were leaving we happen to run into Kyle, Amy, and the kids...totally unplanned. It was fun.

How cute are they? Love those two.

Merry Christmas everyone...enjoy this special time of year!!!!

Jacobson Family

Last Sunday I was able to meet up with the Jacobson family to take some pictures. Malia is Kora's best friend from high school and it has been so fun to watch her family grow. She just had her second baby, Mia, about a month ago. She also has a three year old, Bianca, who is a fire cracker!! She has a lot of energy and is so enthusiastic. We had a great time.

Here is baby Mia. She got all dressed up for her pictures:). Bianca, sitting still for just a bit, before she was off again...

Precious...Bianca adores her Dad, Steve.

This may have been the closest I got to having Bianca look at me when all four of them were in a picture. She wasn't really feelin' the pictures right then:)

I love this picture. Malia looks so happy and Mia is sticking her tongue out...great moment.

This picture cracked me up because it shows Bianca's personality so great...Always laughing and always on the move!!!

Malia, with her two girls.

Bianca loves her baby sister.

Farrow Family

Last weekend, I headed north to take family / one year old pictures for the Farrow family. It was dark outside, so we were not able to take any natural light pictures, and since I don't have indoor photography lights yet, we had to be a little creative with the lighting at Tanya and Billy's house.

Gwen just turned one year old!! She has such beautiful blue eyes...

She loves her horsey!!

There are those beautiful eyes again.

Sometimes, when I would talk to Gwen she was a little unsure if she wanted me to be doing that...hence the picture below.

I love this one...just looking at her Mom...

This one just makes me laugh :).

I had such a fun time taking their pictures. Gwen is such a beautiful little girl...she made my job easy!!

Tanya--I am almost done with the rest of the pictures and they will be in the mail by Friday!!