So many things...

So many new things have happened lately. Things have been good and despite the 28 days of straight rain, we have been super busy with projects and fun trips and new business ventures. Plus our sweet little Lyla has magically grown into this charming sweet little girl that says "arf" to all dogs, loves being outside and has just discovered that spinning in circles in the most scary and exciting and hilarious thing ever.

I took a trip up to Orcas for a few days with my friend Bianc and her fam. It was a much needed trip for me. I love Orcas Island. The place is peaceful. I have no doubt we will have our own little piece of that island one day. For now, I have to settle for every little chance we get to sneak back.



We have also been refinishing a few pieces of furniture which I will post soon. We also started a mini remodel on our bedroom. New paint color, diy headboard, shutters and a little closest organization. We are half way through- pictures will come soon.

I am super excited about a fun little business project Matt and I have together. We are going to be selling milkshakes at two different farmers' markets this summer. Our business is called Moo Shakes and we will feature 11 different flavors such as the standards of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry but we will also have raspberry, blackberry, peach, chocolate malt, cinnammon, honey lavender, banana and coffee. Most of our products will be local and as fresh as possible. These are gonna be some tasty milkshakes. I'm feeling good about this and we have some cool ideas in motion to make this work. We start May 22nd.

We were up visiting our friends Lynsey and Ryan and their darling little girl Lula this past weekend. She is also 16 months old so it was really fun to watch her and Lyla play together. We also had a fantastic day at the zoo. So nice to hang out with good friends.

10K Beach Extravaganza!

We just had a fantastic weekend in Lincoln City. It has been a goal of mine since I had Lyla to run a race of some kind. I was thinking about a half marathon for awhile but just wasn't ready. I decided to focus on a 10k (6.4miles). My training program left much to be desired but I maintained the entire time that is was more mental than physical. I knew I was a healthy relatively in shape 33 year old and there was no reason why I couldn't run the race. It turned out to be mind over matter after all - I completed the race in 1hr11min; 9 minutes under my goal.

Two friends also joined Matt, Lyla and I for the weekend. Bianc and Emily came down from Seattle to run the race with me and hang out for Saturday and Sunday night. We had the dogs with us too so it was a full house of fun. The weather turned out to be beautiful, the house we stayed was a stones throw from the beach and the company was hilarious. Perfect.




This is a photo I will treasure my whole life.


I immediately asked Matt if he had any experience with cheerleading- pretty good form.

Sunny Saturday at a new park

A few weeks ago I found a new park that isn't to far from our house. It was a little cold today but the sun was shining so we took the opportunity to go check out the park. It was the perfect size for Lyla and there weren't too many kids so she could just roam as she wanted. It was a fun little outing.

Little Miss Lyla: 14.5 months

Wow! Lyla is one fantastic little lady in my opinion. She is a happy little girl who just roams the house playing and exploring at her own leisure. She loves her stuffed animals, in particular Wocket, Huey , Miss Puff and Mr. Moose.
Books are a favorite but only to speed through- it's like she is being timed or something- very endearing- one day Biscuits trip to the pumpkin patch will slow down.

She is fascinated with a book shelf that we have and all of the items on it. She spends plenty of time in front of it pointing and jabbering wildly until she is picked up and then she selects the item with great determination- she has her eye on a specific item- usually our fish Holiday, but sometimes he loses out to the volume knob on the stereo.

Charlie and Alice (our dogs) are favorites for sure. She pats them quite a bit throughout the day and can often be found smiling and waving at them as well.

Lyla jabbers most of the day and she loves yelling because she's excited. She is understanding more and more of what we say. We can't say the word bath or she heads straight to the bathroom and if we say bedtime she walks to her room. We are quickly learning that she is listening. Matt said the word "vacuum" today and she walked to the closet where it's stored and staring banging on the door.

It really has been so special to watch her grow into her own person.





This was a completely random picture but has actually turned into one of my favorite family pictures thus far.

Christmas

This year we went to visit Matt's sister Stacey and her family, Darryl, Amelia, Hayden and Lucas. Matt's parents also came over to Stacey's house as well. It was really fun to watch Lyla play with her cousins and try to figure out Christmas. She was curious about the tree but learned to touch it with one finger which was cute to watch. She was so proud of herself. She also figured out how to pull paper off of presents. We tried to get her only a few things this year as she just had a birthday. It is really interesting having a little person and trying to figure out how to show Christmas to them, how to explain presents, family traditions we want to start, Santa and all that good stuff. I have really started to think about how we can make the holiday special for our family in years to come.

The Zoo!

All I have wanted to do since Lyla was to born is take her to the zoo. I knew that if she was too young it really would have been just for me- not her. My brother and sister-in-law were visiting for Thanksgiving and we ended up going to the zoo which made me so happy. Lyla really seemed to like the animals. I do think that she thought most animals were dogs but none the less it was fun.



Lyla and Billy Goat Gruff!

Lyla turns one!

Our little Lyla just turned one. So very exciting, yet still surprised that we have a one year old. We had her birthday party on November 27th and it was a lot of fun. She really seemed to enjoy the day.





The theme of Lyla's party was bunnies. So naturally we had a bunny arrive for the party for a few minutes to wish her a happy day. Ahhh, the perks of my job... just so happens that we have bunny costumes lurking around.

Lyla was not a fan of cake. She didn't like it on her hands or even the taste of it. I guess that's a good thing- she certainly doesn't get that from me.