My bump, my bump, my lovely baby bump....

Baby Don is finally starting to make an appearance to the rest of the world. This picture was taken at 20 weeks and 4 days, which was also Christmas Day. We had a great day at the Hussey house spending time with family. More Christmas pics to come...

Halfway

20 weeks...halfway to meeting our baby boy. Yesterday I had my 20 week appointment and the doctor said that everything is looking great and his growth is right on track with my due date, May 10th. It was so great to see him yesterday. And to top off a wonderful day, Richie was able to feel him move last night for the first time. It was pretty soft, but he said he was certain he felt him:). I have been feeling him move around for the last couple weeks, but Richie had yet to feel it. I keep getting emotional this holiday season because I feel so blessed. My family is healthy, my husband and I both have good jobs, and now this baby boy growing strong and healthy!!! How could one person be so blessed when others are suffering????

This Christmas I am thanking God for all that He has given me and praying for those less fortunate.

Baby Don, I love you soooo much already. I hope that the next 20 weeks goes as fast as the first 20 because I can't wait to meet you sweet boy.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

When PittBulls Attack...

Yesterday I witnessed a vicious pittbull attack!!! Below you will find a picture to prove that it happened...this is a DANGEROUS dog... Ha! Yesterday my wonderful little brother came over to weed my front yard flower bed so that my homeowners association would stop charging me. It ended up being a GREAT day. Joe, Janice, and Marie stopped by and while Joe was outside working Marie, Janice, and I had a little holiday party. After all the work was done and my front yard was looking amazing, we headed out to El Sarape for some yummy Mexican food.

To end a wonderful day, Richie brought home my birthday present and insisted I open it a day early because he thought I would want to use it today...and he was right!! He got me a Nook, so I have been reading most of the day. Such a great gift...I love my hubby!

Lady also had a wonderful day with all the company. She was exhausted by night time from all the snuggles and kisses that she was "attacking" everyone with:).

Love this Girl...

So this picture is from a few months ago and I meant to blog about it then, but never got around to it. Since I am currently running low on blogging ideas, I will blog about this now:).

This picture was taken one weekend (I think back in September or October) that my Mom, Sophs, and myself headed up to watch Abby one night so that Kim and Zach could go to a friends wedding. It was such a fun night with the girls. My Mom's good friend Mary Beth came over to hang out with us as well, so we all got some good girl bonding time in:). Sophia is such a little character and always entertains us with her never ending questions and quirky comments. She is such a smart girl and always amazes me with the things she thinks of.

The next day my Mom, Sophia, and I headed over to Paulsbo on the ferry for my cousins baby shower. At one point Sophs asked us, "uhhhh, is this boat going to flip over???" It made me laugh, but I quickly assured her that NO WAY would this boat flip over. After we snapped this picture, Sophia said, "Let's go back in...it's a little scary out here!" It was so much fun to get some time with Sophs without all the other Aunties there. I love this little Lady!!!!

Replaced

I think I have been replaced in my own bed!!! Richie and I had a great, relaxing day yesterday and spent most of it vegging in bed, which was very needed for both of us. Of course Lady and Baxter wanted to snuggle with us most of the day as well. At one point, I came back into the bedroom to find a Lady in my spot. She was actually sharing Richie's pillow with him!! It was too cute. I hope everyone had a great weekend and was able to get in some snuggle time with the ones they love (fur or no fur!!).

My Big Ol' Family

On Thanksgiving my family decided to dress in either brown, cream, or red, based on some cute matching outfits that my Mom found for the kids. It is really hard for us to get a picture with ALL of us in it so we wanted to take advantage of this opportunity. I just thought I would share one of the pictures will all of you. Every year we grow a little more:). It was such a great weekend...I already look forward to next year's Thanksgiving!

Getting ready for Christmas!!!

This morning I woke up and headed to my parents for breakfast. Richie was still sleeping, but must not have stayed that way for too long. After hanging out with my family for a few hours I headed back home to find my house decorated for Christmas, including my dog, Lady!!!!!! Richie must have been very busy getting everything ready while I was gone:).

Doesn't my little elf look so cute?!?! I love Christmas...

Thanksgiving 2010

Happy, happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!! Richie and I always have a lot to be thankful for, but this year we were especially thankful. We are just so thankful for our little guy. I am almost 17 weeks into my pregnancy and everything is still looking great and healthy. After so long of trying and even starting to think that we were never going to be able to have children, we are so happy that this little guy is growing strong. Yesterday at dinner we let the family know that we are planning on naming him Don Christopher Faatoafe. My Dad was thrilled to finally have a grandchild take his name:)...so Baby Don it is!!! We are so blessed to have a healthy, loving family, jobs to support ourselves, a roof over our heads, and love in our hearts. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

14 Weeks

Finally out of the first trimester!!! I wasn't planning on having an ultrasound yesterday, but I had a bit of a scare on Monday night, so I was at my doctor's office first thing on Tuesday morning. They squeezed me in for an ultrasound and found that everything was fine with baby!!! Thank God!! Needless to say, I had a little chat with my Gummie Bear to tell him not to scare me like that any more!

Did you notice I used the word "him?" It is a little early to be 100% sure, but the ultrasound tech said she was 70% sure Baby F is a BOY!!!!!!! We are so excited...maybe my Dad will get his "blond headed throwin' Samoan" after all:). Again, Baby F put on a good show for his Mom, Dad, and Grammy. He was waving, turning, and sucking his thumb (even though Richie tried to deny that one).

Baby Boy, you are loved so much already!!!!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Little Cupcake!!!

This weekend we celebrated Abigail's first birthday. I still cannot believe that she is ONE!!! This last year has really flown by. She was such a sweet little girl (like always) for her birthday party.

Here she is just waking up from a nap as we were arriving for the party. We were a little early, as my Mom had some of the party supplies. Don't mind the light on some of these pictures, I think the lamps were making the white balance on my camera freak out!

Okay, now she is ready to P-A-R-T-Y!!!!!! She looked so cute in her little dress, however, it did make it a little hard for her to crawl around. She got a little frustrated at times:). This picture cracks me up, because she is looking at Kim like, "Mom, this is so embarrassing!!! Why do you make me do this?!?!?"

Here is the cute cake that Amy made...perfect for the cupcake theme.

Amy also made this adorable birthday banner. She is so great and crafty!

Ready for her first taste of cake...she was a little unsure about the candle on top though.
YUM!!! I guess it is easier to just go to your food instead of trying to bring your food to you:).

Frosting makes for great hair gel!!! This is kind of the "Something About Mary" hairdo:).

Opening gifts with no shirt on...does it get any better?!?!

Happy happy birthday Abigail. This last year of watching you grow has been amazing. You are loved by so many, and so many are blessed to have you in their lives.

Kim, Aileen, Olivia, and Nicole 2011

Okay, so I am still trying to catch up on posting some of the pictures that I took in the last couple months. I decided that since I shot all four of these girls at the same time, that I could also post them at the same time:). This was a really fun shoot. These girls are great friends and made my job easy!!! Nicole...

Olivia...

Aileen...

and...last, but not least, Kim...

Thinking of....

My dear friend Chelsea is on my mind sooooo much lately. She is about to have a new baby any day. I keep waiting to hear news that Baby T has finally arrived...I'm getting a little anxious...can't imagine how she is feeling! While this is such a happy event, I am sad that I will not be able to see her right away. A little over a year ago, Chelsea and her husband moved to Walla Walla, which is not exactly down the street from Lacey, WA.

Well, Chels...your on my mind and in my prayers. I hope all goes well with with the arrival of Baby T and can't wait to meet him. Hopefully, he doesn't make you wait or get too uncomfortable...if you havn't gotten there already:). Love you.

Big Baxter

I came across this picture today and thought that it was a good display of how BIG Baxter is and thought I would share it with you. Since he is my baby, I forget how big he is until other people remind me, or when I see pictures like this. My neighbors son always calls Bax a "brick shit house" and I am finally starting to understand why.
He is so stupid and cute! I love the Big Guy!!

Hello Dawg Fans

My sister sent me this today and I thought all of you Dawg fans out there might also enjoy it.

http://taylortakesataste.com/tailgating-and-sailgating-on-the-west-coast/

We play Standford this weekend and I will be attending the game with my brother, Kyle, so hopefully I will get some fun pics to share with everyone:).

Happy Tailgating and GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeff Stiles

Okay, so I am trying to catch up on posting some of the shoots I have done in the last month or so. There was such a big rush of senior portraits because most of the local high schools want kids to turn in the picture of choice by the third week in October, and, of course, high school kids put everything off until the last minute:).

Here are pictures of Jeff that I took back in September. Jeff actually graduated last year (2010) but wanted some different pictures because he has changed so much since the beginning of his senior year. Jeff's mom, Jolene, used to baby-sit the Hussey kids and then when she had kids we would baby-sit them. It was such a fun shoot and great to see Jeff...I think the last time I saw him he was still in diapers!!!!!

Jeff is attending Western Washington University this year and was getting ready to leave a couple days after our shoot. It was great getting to chat with him about his future plans and goals. Good luck in college Jeff!!!!!!!

Eric 2011

I have been so busy for the last several weeks taking pictures and getting them ready before year book deadlines. For this reason, I have fallen far behind on posting the photo shoots that I have done.

Here is Eric. He is a senior at Olympia High School. At Oly they have spirit leaders, called Thunder and Lightening. I can't remember which one Eric is, but he helps cheer the Oly Bears to victory at the football games:).

This was a really fun shoot and Eric was great to work with.

Cats out of the bag...

Well, here is what we have been hiding the last ten weeks:). A little Gummie Bear!!! We have been waiting to make the big announcement because we wanted to make sure everything was okay. Yesterday we had a doctor's appointment and they said everything was looking really good and healthy, so we decided it was time to share our happy news. We are soooooo excited! Baby F really put on a show for Mom and Dad yesterday during the appointment. It was waving, kicking it's little stub legs together, and even doing a little dance. Such a show off already:).

DOM PERIGNON

I should have posted this a really long time ago, but I forgot until now...oh well.

For our wedding, our best man got us a bottle of Dom Perignon. We were REALLY excited, or actually, I was really excited!!! We kept looking for the right time to drink it, but were always hesitant because we didn't want to waste it on something that wasn't special enough. I was talking to some friends about how we had yet to drink the fancy bottle of champagne, and was shocked when they told me that it can actually go bad!!! Since we heard this news, we were constantly looking for a the right time and place to drink it cause we knew it had to be soon.

For those of you who know Richie, you know that he LOVES the Lakers. So every year when they are in the playoffs, it is a very emotional time for him. I can't get upset because I have my teams that I love and am very passionate about, so I totally get his craziness:).

This past year, when they won the championship game, Richie started jumping up and down going crazy with excitement and yelled, "Get the Dom!!!" Of course I quickly agreed that this was the right time:), so I grabbed it out of the cupboard.
It was well worth the wait!!!!! Even though it was a relaxing, low key night at home, I think it was the perfect night to drink our Dom:).

Richie is not a huge drinker, so he only had one glass and I got the rest of the bottle to myself!!! Yum, yum!!!!!

Never let it get too far away!!!

Like usual, Baxter was protecting his baby while sleeping. I was working on some pictures the other night and looked over to see the Big Guy hiding his ball mid nap. He is so funny with those Kong balls!!!! Right now we have two of them and I will often find Baxter playing with one while laying on the other so that nobody else can have it. Such a silly boy!!!

One of the guys

Sorry, I know the quality of this picture is really bad, but none the less, it is a cute picture. A few weeks ago, Kyle and Amy invited us out their house to watch the Husky game. By the end of the night we ended up chatting around the dinning room table. The guys all had drinks, so of course Griff wanted one too. Amy found a little shot glass that was shaped like a beer mug, threw some ice water in it and, as a result, Big Boy Roy though he was pretty cool hangin' with the other guys!!! (Side note: notice how deep in coversation Kyle is...LOL) This little guy is such a character. He is ALL BOY!!! He seeks out trucks and footballs, even when they are buried by dolls and princesses. He can spend HOURS "driving" the cars in the driveway...not to mention his love for "driving" his Dad or Grandpa's big trucks!!! When my Dad knows Griff is at his house, he tries to run in from the truck really fast just to avoid a melt down.

This little guy sure does keep me smiling:).

Hangin' out at Mom and Dad's

These are just some cute pictures that, I think Kimberly took, at my parents one day.

I love how both the kids are looking at Kora:). They are like, "Hey Auntie, what are you doing?!?"

Sweet Little Muffin!!! She's just being cute like normal.

Josh 2011

Josh is a senior at Elma High School. I headed down to his house in Elma with my Mom a couple weeks ago. It was a super easy shoot. Josh was so great to work with. We were able to discuss some of his post high school plans while I was taking his pictures. One of his intrests was to go to UW and maybe major in history!!! Of course I loved this and had to tell him how great it was:). Here are some of my favorites from the shoot.

Josh, good luck next year with whatever you choose to do. :)

My New Closet

I know I have mentioned many times before that Richie and I live in a VERY small house! It is a two bedroom, one bath, tiny little place. Ever since we moved in I have been using our spare room as my closet, which I quickly outgrew:). Rich and I have been discussing turning half of the garage into a new closet for me so that we could actually use our spare room for something more functional. Over the last week or so, Richie has been EXTREMELY busy getting my new closet all ready. He is such a great husband and makes me so happy...as does my new closet!!!!

He started by painting and getting rid of anything out there that was not needed in order to make room for all of my stuff. We had a bit of extra carpet that was left over after the carpet inside was installed, so he installed that, which ended up fitting perfect!! He hung some shelves, got some hanging racks, and moved my dresser out there. It turned out sooooooo good!!!

Here is a picture of my dresser. He even took the time to hang my necklaces:) Some of the shelves and hanging space.....

More hanging space provided by portable hanging racks.....

Some of the shoe space below the clothes...

Area for more of the shoes ( I like how you can see Baxter in the mirror:) )....

I love my new closet!!! It is so nice that I can actually see all of my clothes. I feel like they can breath for the first time. Everything turned out so great.

Richie, your the best!!!! Love you Babe!!!