Christmas.

I LOVE Christmas. I love the family get togethers, the food. OKAY, I like the gifts too!

Today we had Christmas #1 at my dad's. How special to get to share a Christmas with my Grandma. We didn't grow up getting that, because she was always in California. I imagine it was slightly harder than most, as this was our first Christmas without Grandpa. Both Grandpa's for that matter. Even with that in mind, I am so grateful for the family I was given. I truly think they are the best. All of them. We have a great time together.

Tomorrow will be Christmases #2 and #3. And technically, it will only be Christmas Eve. I can't wait to wake up on Christmas day and have no plans. We will be home in jammies playing with new toys if anyone needs us! :)

Merry Christmas Eve, eve. That's today...

Happy Birthday to ..... ME!

YAY -- well, I just celebrated my birthday weekend, technically, I am not older until tomorrow, but the spoiling began this weekend. I am a lucky girl!

For the weekend, we started by getting out of town. We went up to Washington and stayed with some very dear friends. Thank you to Adam, Mandi, Cooper and Cloey for sharing your beautiful house with us, it is always so comfortable and pleasant. The boys sent us on a little shopping spree on Saturday, Travis sent me to buy myself some gifts, while they watched the kiddos for the day. That is the best gift ever because usually, there is always guilt that comes with spoiling myself. This time I shed all guilt and got myself some new shoes and clothes. Downtown Portland shopping is hard to beat! When we were done, we went back to the house, sent the kids to Grammy's house and went to dinner! We ate at:

Yum.

It was delicious. We had great food and great company. (recommendation is to go during happy hour and order this:)

delicious.
I don't think these little potstickers can be beat, they were SO good!

We lounged around, watched movies, ate popcorn and cookies for breakfast. It was great. On our way home, we decided to stop and eat at cascade station, which then led us to Marshall's, Ross, and a successful trip to Ikea. Afterwards, we headed to Abby's Pizza to pick up dinner to go and stopped and shared it with Travis' mom. It was a great finale to a great weekend.

Yeah, I feel pretty lucky.

the weekend

Here we are again, at another weekend! YAY. Seems like we have been laying low lately, we used to go, go, go, but lately, we have spent some days home. It is a nice change. This weekend here is the agenda:

Last night: dinner with friends. I made salt dough ornaments and the girls (Sophia and her friend) painted them. Can't wait to tie ribbons on them and finalize them, hope to get some photos soon as well.

Today: going to a weaving (baskets) workshop, I am taking Sophia and hopefully she can get that under her belt, it is a hard concept, but part of her heritage and history, so important! We may only be there for about an hour, but should be a good social and crafty time.
Later, we will head to Willamina for the COLD and short, kind of tacky, light parade & hot cocoa. Funny thing is that we go every year, even though it is a bunch of monster trucks and log trucks with just a few lights -- only lasts about 10 minutes. It's fun.

Tomorrow: nothing. So far, I got nothing. WHAT am I going to do tomorrow???

I LOVE winter weekends with no plans :)

Enjoy yours!

Thanksgiving -

Oh, I love Thanksgiving. This year, I am thankful for the 4 1/2 day weekend that comes with it. I am thankful for a full-time job with benefits AND pays well. Finally, being able to pay the bills again. Less stress. ahhh.

I am also thankful for so many other things:

Relationships.
family. moms & dads. siblings. Nieces & Nephews. in-laws. friends.
Travis.
SOPHIA - man I love her.
Grandparents - the ones that went on this year and the ones still here with us.

Food.
Thanksgiving dinner is so good. And so much better the next day! mmmmm.
Thank you Sandy for bringing that pumpkin cheesecake, yum. (And thank you for bringing it home with you also, I would've eaten the whole thing and would weigh 20 lbs more...)

Things.
A running car. 190,xxx and still going strong, way to go little Honda.
warm, cozy house. candles in the wintertime. fireplace. The pets: Nico and Jasmine.
A Maui trip this year.

And, last but not least, at this point, I can decorate for Christmas and get a tree anytime I want! YAY!

That's probably not everything, but for now. Thank you!

Sunday

I woke up and began cleaning. Stripped the beds, washed the sheets, scrubbed the toilet, tub, sink. Swept, mopped (well, Travis mopped), dusted. The dishwasher was ran and the washing machine and dryer have been going strong for hours. It's one of those things that, I will tell you I hate to clean house but, there is something slightly therapeutic about it all. In the end, I am never more cozy than in my warm, clean house with candles burning and some music in the background. That may be one of my most happy places. I think all the hard work adds to that pleasure.

That is how I have spent the day, this is my reflection, and it's only 2pm. We still have a dinner date at friend's later.

I do love Sundays. :)

Dear Maui -

I am so sorry we had to end our time together. I think you are beautiful and fruitful and warm and kind, but I had to go. It is definitely not you, it's me. I will return to you again one day, and I will always love you, but for now, our time is over. I have captured some of our memories together in photos and I will always cherish them. Thanks for our time together.

Yours,
Esther

above: last morning in Maui.. :(

yeah, we sat by Santa Clause at our luau - he needs a good vacation before his busy season starts!

BEAUTIFUL!

new job.

Well, I am sure you are all wondering how is the new job? I love it so far! It is GREAT! I work from 7-3. Until 1:00 it is spent with about 7 cute 3 year-olds.... crazy, but SO much fun. At 1:00, I get office time. Curriculum, meetings, emails, etc. Best of both worlds. Right when I need to break away, I get to go to my little office and have some alone time. Since I am done at 3:00, I have at least 45 minutes...best part... ALL TO MYSELF! With NO responsibility, child, NOTHING. That is just unheard of. Today I got 30 minutes of cardio in, felt good. (well, bad, but good. You know).

I think this is going to be the perfect balance for me. I am lucky because with kid curriculum, I will get to use my creative side. Since I am in an immersion classroom, I will be able to make and recreate books in a new language, a.k.a. use my graphic design degree/skills. However, what I missed at the Lottery, was the kids. This way, I will still get to work with kids and use my creative side. I am excited.

Tomorrow, we head to the pumpkin patch - in the rain. On Friday, I had the day off but went to the Pumpkin patch with Travis and Sophia (and the K-5 Program, and Travis's work)... It was beautiful and sunny.... Not sure that will be the case tomorrow! Here are some pics from the first trip to the patch.

Relationships

Well, I suppose that the relationship between my blog and I has been neglected. I didn't MEAN for it to happen. It just did. I am sorry. I will try once again to nurture this and bring it back, but, I just can't promise and commit the way I should. Sorry. It's not you, it's me.

So, what's new with me, anyway? I have had an 'active' month to say the least.

For starters, as my plane landed in California on the 21st of September, I also received a call from my dad, letting me know my grandfather had peacefully slipped away. He passed into the next phase of being. I have never experienced this before, up until this point, I have had ALL of my grandparents, alive. Although, we all knew it was coming, the pain was excruciating, yet, at the same time it was a slight release. Not because we wanted to see him go, but he was tired of fighting and was ready to go. I choose to believe he is now in a better place and he was ready to go there. With the loss of one Grandfather, it has also been brought to my attention that another is fading, as well as a Grandmother. I can already tell, this won't get easier.

On another level, however, there has definitely been some positive happenings during this time. Two days after receiving notice of my Grandfather, I received notice of a new job. I was offered a position at the Tribe that not only, pays double my annual salary, but is in the language classroom. This will allow me to continue fluency in Sophia's native language and enhance her fluency at the same time. She will not lose it after all -- she spent three years in immersion classrooms learning her language, the program however, ends after kindergarten. I will be the wheel that keeps turning for that, I'm excited for this.

Speaking of Sophia, she is doing wonderfully in the first grade, she is still excelling at reading and pushing forward in her other subjects. She is also playing soccer, which is pretty demanding, 2 practices and 2 games a week, generally. Due to this, she has dropped ballet, but may restart that in January (I hope so!!).

We leave for Maui in exactly 4 weeks, I can't even stand it, I am ready to go! I have started doing 100 situps each day -- hopefully this will help! I know it is last minute, yet, if you know me, that's how I roll! Wait until that last minute and then push hard. argh.

See you soon.....

first grade.

Well, Sophia is truly a 1st grader! I dropped her off this morning and we saw lots of friends and the drop off was easy. I think she has had some anxiety up until this morning, finally, there was some excitement! I think it is going to be a great year. She has a wonderful teacher and lots of great friends in her class. One more year, I can't believe it.

married.

well. It's official. I am Mrs. Esther Therese Stewart. Great wedding. Great day. Great company. Who could ask for anything more? Thanks to EVERYONE who was able to make it out, we truly enjoyed our day. Here are a few pics to enjoy!

The last week

Well, I feel like this is a milestone week, I should definitely post!! This weekend, Saturday, to be exact, is the day we tie the knot! We have been busily working, worrying and trying to remain extremely calm, all at the same time. For not having a "wedding", I sure feel like we have been planning one! So, as of now, the house is ready on the outside.... not even close on the inside, it needs one good day of cleaning. I think that will wait until Friday, I have learned that a clean house only lasts about 24 hours around here, I don't want to do it twice..

Food is taken care of, The Reverend Alyssa Gasca is ready to marry us in the yard (I am SO excited about this fact!), beer keg: ordered. Port a potty: ordered. Wine:handled. I think officially, there are about 3 things that I have left to take care of... ugh. wow.

I continue to tell myself this, for all of you stressed party planners: No matter what, the only person that will notice anything missing, is you. If people don't see it, they won't even think about it. SO, with that said, no worries. I am calm as a freakin' crazy cucumber!!! :)

The Garden.

Well... The garden is doing pretty well this year. We ate 1 cherry tomato, a zucchini, some green beans and green onions out of it so far. That is pretty good! We have an OVER-abundance of jungle-like tomato plants, but none of them seem to want to turn red.... hmmm. Don't know what to do about that. I seem to have this problem every year. Is it not enough sun for a long period of time?? I don't know what the deal with them is. Well, here are some photos of my fruits (and vegetables) of labor:

Zucchini blossoms

tomato jungle... seriously, not ONE red tomato on there.

See those two cute green beans... yum.

And, I must say, that is the cutest little cucumber I have ever seen.

Some updates!

Well, awhile back, like, in JUNE (yes, I am that much of a slacker) we had some wonderful visitors. As usual, I did not take enough photos, but got one or two pretty cute ones. My cousins, Maya and Dylan, and their mates, Elizabeth and Mike came up on a road trip. We enjoyed them SO SO much and are hoping to see them all again in a couple of weeks. . . It really makes me wish we could live closer to them. They are so much fun. As I said, I didn't get too many photos, but I did love this one of Maya with my girls, Nico and Sophia.



Unfortunately, later on that night, the kids were bad and got put in the cage that we keep in our living room.... :(

JUST KIDDING -- that is Nico's crate and the kids being dorks. Imagine that! These two are something else when they get together.

Some more recent news is.......... drumroll please.................... we have arrived home from a week on the canoe journey. And I have a couple of pics. From day one. Then I never took another photo, the whole time. :) Yes, that's how I work!


Above is a photo of the beach before our canoe came into shore on the first day, as this beach filled up with these hand-dug canoes, it was a pretty amazing site to see.

The front seat in the canoe is called the princess seat.... can you see who is in there?? Look closer:



OF COURSE, should've known. It is Sophia, all smiles!
We had a great time. I paddled about a day and a half, a total of maybe 17-18 miles. Sounds like a lot to me, but really, it is nothing compared to what most people paddle on this journey. It is a lot of work, but, every year I return and can't wait for the next year. It is really a great experience, hard work, but tons of fun.

In other news, my garden is out of control -- it is a pure jungle. I have about 7 tomato plants that are taking over, yet no red tomatoes. I ate my first pole beans today, right off of the plant. They were delicious. And, my green onions are HUGE. Hope to get pictures up soon.

Still job searching, but definitely not complaining.

Summer is so much more fun outside, than on the computer!

Journey 2009

Well, here goes. It is that time of year again, we are heading out on the Canoe Journey 2009. Usually, I only get to attend a portion, while Sophia and Travis are there for the duration. This year, since I am unemployed, and it is a shorter distance than it has been in the past, I will be there for most of it -- a week. We will head out on Sunday and spend the week paddling, singing and camping, we will be on our way to Suquamish, WA. Sounds greuling, and don't get me wrong, it is. Yet it is extremely exciting, and one of the most amazing things a person could participate in. This is the largest youth drug and alcohol prevention event on the west coast. It is extremely spiritual and touching, like nothing I have ever seen before.



This particular video was taken by one of our skippers -- those are just about all teenagers pulling these canoes.

I have to say, this is one event that makes me wish I had tighter roots in my culture. I see these hundreds, maybe thousands, of people, all with this cultural tie. All of these people, working so hard to go back to their roots, and I swell with pride when I watch my daughter participate. She knows her tribes songs, dances, language. As a 5 year old, to have all of that culture handed to you -- wow. I am 28, I have no songs, dances, or language. I am lucky that I can watch my daughter absorb all of this and someday, she will be rich from her culture and pride. I love that.

To read on and find more information on the Canoe Journey 2009, follow this link:

http://www.tribaljourneys2009.com/

another Sunday, come and gone!

Wow, what a wierd weekend. Middle of July and we are surrounded by pouring rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning storms. Who would've thought we would spend one day in the pool and the next day in the rain! Crazy Oregon weather. So, what did this weekend bring? New magnets, new dishwasher, and a new book binding technique. Pretty exciting, I think!

New on my Etsy site are these magnets, they are so much more beautiful in person, but crappy pictures do no justice!


I made one WONDERFUL find this weekend. Long story short, my dishwasher shorted out about 6 months ago and I have not been able to bring myself to buy a new one -- I didn't know if it would even work after all. SO, as I was driving through town (in Travis's truck, no less), I passed a yard sale. As I glanced to the side, I see a shiny, glowing, beautiful, white dishwasher!!!
I jump out of the truck, give it a look over, and the price..... $30. So, I gave it a what the heck and they threw a sold sticker on it. After a busy weekend and three trips to the hardware store, Travis pulled through today, and installed that baby. Officially, it works. It is wonderful. Dishwasher is in effect.



I also learned a new book binding stitch today: the coptic stitch. I love it... soon to be in the Etsy shop: coptic bound books. I love learning new things!!

Have a nice evening, I am off for a long relaxing bath...

Next phase (life).

Well, here is day one, of week one, of unemployment. So far -- pretty productive! I have had some serious inner soul searching: Starting with a breakdown, and now realizing I now have the opportunity to evaluate my situation and decide what direction should I go in. Sounds glamorous, but it is so hard, in reality, to accept. For now. I am working on making this an opportunity and trying to see it as a time to really figure out what it is that I should (or better yet, WANT) to do. At this point, I LOVE graphic design and would love to continue on that path, design, printmaking, screenprinting, sewing: I think I really need to take time to do these things that I love. It makes me happy and pleasant. It releases the creative juices. The challenge is finding a way to earn money from it so I can continue to help support my family, and ensure that Travis does not take all the financial stress, my part to keep him happy as well. Beyond that, I want to work part-time. I think the ultimate situation would be to work 1/2 time in education, with kids, and the other half at home creatively. These are the things that I enjoy, and truly can't decide between.
Moving on, I am sure you are saying "Productive day, yeah right, what have you done today??" Well, I was up at 6:45, got a cup of coffee and spent about 15 minutes just holding my girl. THAT is what I needed today. Once she was ready for school, we were off, and she was at school and I was at the gym. excercised. Headed to the post office to pay bills, came home, showered, did the dishes. And here I am: 10:13 am and ready to start trying to build myself a website. Not too shabby. However, as I said, this is day one, we will see what day two brings! Ciao!

The Etsy.

So far, so good. I made my first official sale via etsy.com the other day and it felt good. It was also surprisingly motivating! I was thinking 'Uh oh, I just sold half my inventory!'. So, with that, I am going to stock that baby to the gills. Keep checking back. I am trying to keep things fresh and new there, so there is constantly something to look forward to! My link is on the sidebar (of this here blog), but just for extra credit, You can also click here to get to the shop.

I know I am a couple days behind on the Father's Day post, but I don't feel as though I want to let it pass without recognizing it. I was lucky enough to get to celebrate with 4, YES 4, great dads. First of all, Travis
-- best dad ever. Sophia and I got him a hammock and we spent the day in the yard doing yardwork and planting new bamboo (his other baby).

I was also lucky enough to run into my dad on that special day. He is great -- thanks to him for not only being an awesome dad, but also, a WONDERFUL Grandpa. So amazing to watch him and Sophia together, they make quite the pair, and share a hilarious sense of humor.


Now for dad #3, Tim has been my other wonderful dad and Grandpa for Sophia, thanks to him for also being so wonderful and accepting in ALL that I do. So supportive and always kind.


Last dad of the post, dad #4, Brother John. My brother was lucky enough to celebrate his first ever father's day. What a lucky guy, he somehow got one of the CUTEST baby girls ever! He is a great dad and I am so proud of him..... Now if only I could get him to move a liiiittttle bit closer so I could see his lovely family more often...
That is only 4 of the great dad's I know and admire. You guys are all so special in my life. With that said, I also must recognize the other side, Happy Father's Day to ALL the dad's, including Uncle Toby, Uncle Ariah, Grandpa Bob -- You guys are all wonderful!

amazingly creepy. wow.

What is this technological world coming to? This is amazing, yet scares the crap out of me, all at the same time!

busy. busy. busy.

SO far, here is the score:

PROJECTS=
Use that new sewing machine
Sew pillow(s)
Sew Sophia a new skirt
Get an Etsy store up & running
Print and mail wedding invites
Confirm wedding location
find a job
fill out 8,000 applications...
Make a portfolio
clean the house
Printmaking
screen printing
fathers day gifts/cards
blah, blah, blah

TIME= none

Why does it always happen that way?
BUT, there has been some success! Etsy store, officially open: my etsy shop I need to add some more items, but a start is there at least!
I also somehow got a portfolio made & washed the dishes. Progress, even if just a little at a time, feels so good. :)

realization.

I just came to a realization.

All these people blog about what they love. What they do. How they relax, kill time, pass the days. I just realized, when I am stressed. When I need a moment of downtime. What do I do? I read their blogs, about what they do. Then I daydream, just a little bit, that I am living that life for just a moment -- but rather than completely living that life, I am only enjoying that lifestyle. I still have my home, family and friends. I just enjoy doing things that, maybe, I have never even done. Or better yet, doing things that I want to do, but can't find the time, and when I do have the time..... I just sit and read about it!

So, thank you to all my daily blogs -- thank you for updating. Thank you for just posting something that, maybe you think nobody reads. But, I do. And I love it. It makes me smile.

Thanks to these peeps (check them out and daydream...): Soulemama, a lovely morning, hulaseventy, Petra, Molly, Sandy, howaboutorange, Oh So Beautiful Paper.

just in case you are wondering...

If anyone is ever in a predicament of "I would sure love to get Esther an awesome gift. One that she will truly love and never forget..." Here is an idea. Now, just a head's up, it would be a bit pricey, and there would probably have to be a plane ticket purchased and all that jazz, but I am telling you, if you ever want to win me over... Here it is.

Squam.

That's all I am going to say. I would probably LOVE almost any of the courses, I prefer handy-work over writing, but I think I would love to explore any of the topics.

Just in case you are wondering. :)

Any takers?

cool new website...

I was looking at a Communication Arts Magazine today and on the cover, there is this great little illustration. I realized it is the website for Tracy Chapman! I love it, it is a great interactive website -- fyi, you may need flash to access it, but I think it's worth a flash download! Enjoy, here is the link! http://tracychapman.com/

Swan Lake

So, this is it! Sophia's big production weekend. Three showings of Swan Lake, starting tonight! I will make sure to post some photos after the weekend --

:)

most amazing thing ever.

I found this today on the blog "Oh So Beautiful Paper" and I believe I have seen it before. I find this to be the most amazing artist I have ever seen. Amazing. Wow. I am floored. I LOVE the 'angel' in the cage. . . Here is the link to the artist's website.
His name is peter callesen.

The weekend.

We decided to take a last minute out-of-town vacation. We headed up to stay with some friends in WA and were so glad that we did. We had a blast. Included in our weekend getaway, was:

Good food
good friends
good weather
good campfires
and of course,
good beer.

We spent a lot of time relaxing and I even got a pretty great sunburn! Thanks to Adam and Mandy for letting us have some time at their little slice of heaven. Here are a few pictures of the fun being had.

Sophia climbed this tree about 5 times, she loved it!

Dragging dad into the sprinkler, I am pretty sure he didn't fight too hard!

Cooper and Sophia

Mandy and the kiddos running through --
I think it is so cute that Cooper and Sophia are holding hands! They really enjoyed each other.

late mother's day

I found a couple of great things on mother's day -- but since it was my day, I didn't want to take the time to post. SO, now that the day is over and work has restarted, here is a post for all the mom's. We love you SOOoooo much!

From a man's point of view:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103974220

This is a post that I found on one of my new favorite blogs soulemama. Her husband filled in for a day and he did a wonderful job: HERE is the direct link to his post. I loved this so much, I copied it to a text document so I can read it over and over.

On our end, we had a great Mother's day. I was surprised at work by my love and our daughter, with flowers in hand. We went to lunch and it was great. On Mother's day we started the day at my mom's for brunch and ended at Travis's brothers for BBQ. We had great company and great conversation. We went to the park and I realized it had been YEARS since I have played catch. I loved it. Here is a picture of Sophia and her cousin Logan -- that's my girl, riding the pegs!



Happy Late Mother's day all you mama's.

WOW,

is really all I can say. This is an amazing show of patience and determination. Awesome.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

I think we need one of these-- or else one of these years, I might have to spend my Easter in San Fran.... Maya and Mike, I hope you were part of this! Enjoy!

Finally, the weekend.

Here is what we are up to: Horse-riding lessons, seeing old friends, pot-luck jam-session, Easter breakfast, maybe Easter brunch (?), maybe work outside. 

what I would like to do: laaaaazzzzzzzzyyyyyyyy. Maybe work outside. Play, read a book.  :) and before you know it, back to work! 

read any good books lately?

So, I have been trying to learn to relax, just a little bit. I am learning to live the life of an 8-5er and have my evenings to do whatever I want. Why is that so hard? It is SO-O-o-o0o hard for me to just get off work, come home, and let myself relax. There are always a million things I should be doing, that I never get done, but nonetheless, spend the evening doing something, never nothing. One thing I have noticed in the midst of all of this is that I miss books. Somehow, I let all of my magazine subscriptions run out (and somehow, I have not been totally missing them....strange), but I have been missing books. (I wonder if it has anything to do with the amount of hours I spend in front of a computer everyday....hmmm) 

Let me know if you have any recommendations. I don't even know where to start... Tonight would be a great night to cuddle up and read a book. 

blog lovelies

So, one day while browsing blogs, I came across another obsession. I don't know what it is, but every once in awhile, I become absolutely obsessed with someone who I have never met, but, there is something about their blog (that sounds so nerdy.) that just sucks me in. It is some sort of surreal dream life of mine. I think they are an interesting person and seem to find their personality magnetic. I enjoy peering into their life and interests, which must be similar to mine. The most recent find of this sort, is a fellow Oregonian. Hulaseventy is a blogger that I came across via her husbands site. Ward is, from what I understand, a pretty accomplished illustrator in the PDX area. Andrea, AKA hulaseventy, however has this beautiful way with words. She also takes amazing vintage-y polaroid photos and has some sort of kick-ass personality that I enjoy "reading". Here are a couple of her photos from her blog. -- you should totally check it out....

I wish this bus was ours.

Her hubby, Ward (see blog link above) just did a series of illustrations... I think this photo is related... the B-Boy series. What do you think? I love it.

vacation - weekends - why can't it always be?

Well, I have finally moved some photos from the camera to the computer! Wow, that is progress. Last week we had a great vacation, we headed out on the annual Sunriver vacation. we were busy pretty much the whole time -- which is NOT my definition of a vacation -- but it was so much fun, I didn't even notice. we spent time sledding, biking, rock climbing, snowboarding, swimming, hot-tubbing and just about everything else that is there to do. As you can see, there were kid monkeys and a man-monkey (I think he is the OLDEST sibling.?.) We finally got to meet the newest member of the family, Little miss Skylar -- and Sophia got a chance to hold her while she was enjoying herself -- this made Sophia's vacation!  We got to spend lots of great time with the fam, and some great time together. I really enjoyed spending time with my nieces and nephew, I don't see them enough! So here is a quick little bit of photo memorabilia from the trip, enjoy!

weeeeee! Sledding -- shortly before Ariah strapped on Sophia's tiny snowboard for backflips down the mountain!

monkey man.... and the monkey kids!  Think they're related???

cutest girl ever (well, one of them....) definitely most photogenic!

FINALLY, I got to hold her!! That is a proud big cousin!

THE CREW.... almost. A few missing.....

Mt. Bachelor -- beautiful day!

Yesterday, Sophia and I had a great day. Every once in awhile, it has to be all about her, well, most days are, but this one REALLY was. We  had to get some new earrings for her ears, because she has officially reached the point where she can change them. Unfortunately, the ones she picked out must be for baby ears, they are not quite long enough - so we are back to the rubies, which is fine with me, I like them!  After picking out new earrings, we went to Grandma's house, and cousin Lucia and Grandma went with us to Sophia's first horseback riding lesson. She was amazing, like she had been doing it forever. She looked great with the horse, and the horse was great with her. I was so proud! CowGIRL up! ha ha ha

After riding, we got a couple great photos of the girls -- these cousins are best buds!