Party Girl

Adelle was such a little party girl yesterday at her Birthday Bar-B-Q! She loved every minute of it. The weather was beautiful and we were able to be outside to celebrate with lots of family! It was a perfect birthday, thanks to everyone for everything!





This girl got so many cute new clothes....I will be posting lots of pictures in the near future of her in her new outfits. One outfit she got, Braxton pulls out of the bag and exclaims, "oh, this is so dang cute." It was hillarious. He got that line from my mom, thanks mom!

Party girl was a little wiped out by the end of the night.

After a second of examination she dove right in to her cupcake. Then there was no stopping her!

I love this picture of these cute kids!

This is us before church yesterday. My mom found the dress that Adelle was wearing in the closet. My Gramy made that dress for me when I turned 1 so today Adelle wore it to church. I love things like this....now I just have to find the picture of me in the dress on my 1st birthday and we can compare. I will save it forever so that Addy's little girl can wear it when she is 1.

The dress is beautiful, the detail is really amazing. My Gramy was a talented seamstress and I feel really blessed to have the dress as a keepsake.

From One Day.....To One Year....

Adelle is turning 1 tomarrow! I can't believe how fast the past year has flown by! It really seems like just yesterday we were anxiously awaiting her arrival.
This little lady has been the sweetest edition to our family. I wondered how I could ever love a child as much as I loved Braxton and immediately I did.
It has been a year of joy and excitement. A year of growth for me as I realized that my love could multiply and I could care for two kids just as much as I could before with one. It has been a year of sharing as Braxton has welcomed the role of big-brotherhood and my heart has beamed as I watch how much he loves his sister and how well he takes care of her. It has been a year of busyness as we don't just have a baby to love and cuddle, we have a baby to love and cuddle and a toddler to love and cuddle and entertain and participate in activities with. I have done things that I would have before thought impossible but they have just had to be done. We have learned as a family that we are four different people with four many different needs and we all need to help each other out and sacrifice a little and give a lot and always, always, always, love each other first.
Adelle has made me smile when I have felt like crying and she has made me realize that time goes so fast and to cherish every moment. She has been a pure example of love and innocence and her giggle can calm any storm in our home. She is fun-loving and such a little tom-boy and we can't get enough of this girl.
We love you Addy-Bell!

"But mom, can't we just live here?"

That's what Braxton asked me when it was time to leave the beach Thursday night. We love Lake Samish and spent both hot hot days at the lake this past week. It was so beautiful and the kids loved it. The lake was so refreshing and we all were able to cool off!

Adelle loved the sand in her toes the best....and in her fingers. The swim suit is an early birthday present from Bama and Umpa. All of last years suits were way too small for this healthy lil' lady.

She loved her new suit. This is her giving Bama loves and more loves and more loves.

Umpa is feeding her so she is happy.

Kissin' cousins

Our little surfer dude....playing it cool

Happy Water Baby!

Life's a beach

(I have a lot of pictures and I am running out of captions...can you tell?)Jeff loving his role as "dad"

This is so cute. This is how Adelle waves. Her hand is turned toward herself and she goes back and forth. I've been trying to capture it for weeks and this is the best I've got so far. It's really sweet live.

Adelle putting sand on Bama's leg, then rubbing it off, over and over, and over.



It was really sweet we were driving out to the lake and Braxton had the lake view window at the time. He was looking out in admiration.

"This is a pretty lake, mom," He said to me in this really mature, observant manner.

Then without even thinking twice he looks over at Adelle and say's, "You're pretty too sis. And mom, you are pretty too. And dad, you are awesome."

I love this boy, he is so sincere and so good with words. He is so thoughtful and such a heartbreaker. Me and Adelle are lucky girls to have him around:)

SHOWTIME!!

Our friends came over to hang out in the sun last week and Braxton's little friend, Grace, brought her little purse filled with these cool shades and bangles. Braxton was really into both. The next thing we know he is wearing the star glasses and the bracelets and is on the table proclaiming, "IT'S SHOWTIME." We have no idea where this game from but it was hillarious! Adelle is the backup!

Sis is really into sunglasses too and she is the first baby I've known that leaves them on. These are Braxton's spiderman shades but she will crawl around with them on all day until Braxton decides he wants them back. Then she screams. Her birthday is Monday.....maybe we should get her her own glasses?

I love this cute lil' booty shot. This baby's got back!

This is pure torture. Adelle loves to be outside just as much as her big brother but she eats the pea gravel so she has to always wait until mom is ready to go outside. I have to shut the door so she doesn't crawl out and land on her head so she just stands and pounds on the window until I am ready. Braxton got sick of the pounding so he was pounding back...this was a fun game for them.....who can pound the hardest!

The much enjoyed Long Weekend...

My pictures uploaded backwards but I won't let that spoil my post. We had a great Memorial Day weekend. I love this holiday. I love the flags that line the streets of downtown and the chance that I had to talk to Braxton about those who have gone on before us, fighting for our freedom....three year old version of course:)

This is Adelle on Monday. We did the traditional claming at Birch Bay. This has never been my favorite thing until now when Braxton gets to go with Umpa and Bama and have a blast digging for clams in the sand. He loved it and Adelle was happy at the picnic, scoring with the empty pop can she found in the cooler and managed to get a few drops out of.
My parents and Braxton clammed all morning and then Jeff got to help pull the necks off the clams and pound them up for clam fritters. Jeff liked the part he had in the task. It all is pretty "red-neckish" to me but they all enjoy it and I do like a clam fritter or two along with my bar-b-q'd hamburger.
It's always a fun day. Grandma Mary came out along with Aunt Colleen and Aunt Angela. Bryce came out after work and we all enjoyed the beautiful weather and the fresh salt air.

The "kids" running around and being crazy. This is Braxton and Adelle's favorite game. Sissy chases brother but she has dad on her side so they usually win.

My dirty boy being a dirty boy!

One of the few games of Boccie Ball we enjoyed together. Bryce is winning in this picture! I was winning one game too.....until Jeff stole my thunder with a double point round to win the game!

This is us Saturday at Silver Lake. It was beautiful there and we had a fun time camping with my parents and Lesha and Peter and Carson. Talk about a "full house." Notice in the picture we all have our space...the camping quarters did not allow for much of that:)

Here are some of the Happy Campers bright and early Saturday morning. They woke up and got out on the lake as soon as they could. Jeff and I are not in the picture. We are in the cabin asleep. We let Grandma and Grandpa get up with the kids and play while we took advantage of a couple more hours of zzzzzz's.

Our Cabin. My mom booked this cabin for the whole family. The ranger said the cabin slept 6. I think my mom has it engraved in her brain that there are still 6 people in the family. This is not an accurate number. There are actually 11 people in the family now and 9 of us were all together in the cabin.

We had a great time! There were 3 beds. The Ashmore bed which consisted of Jeff, Andrea and Adelle with Braxton on the floor in his sleeping bag. The Olsen bed which was pregnant Lesha, Peter and Carson. And the Grandparents bed which was right next to the Ashmore bed and where my mom and dad slept. We were cozy but it was great. We love camping with my parents because they cook for us, play and fish with our kids, and we just hang out:)

Braxton and Grandpa were happy fishermen and we were all happy campers!

This is Friday....the start of the great weekend. Audrey came over on Friday and her and Braxton had a great time together in the sunshine. We did picnic, pop-sickles, sprinkler....

and of course the kids were workin' out back. If you know Braxton you know that he is a workin' man and he really lives and breathes construction work. He is usually in the pile of dirt with his shovel and his dump truck workin' away.

Notice not only does he work, but he supervises and makes sure everyone else is working to his standard. These kids were so cute out there workin'!

Miss Personality

If someone would have explained Adelle's personality to me before she was born I never would have believed them. I honestly didn't think any kid could ever have as much personality as Braxton this girl totally does.....oposite. She is the funniest little girl in the whole world and such a little tom-boy. She is always around boys and she totally rules the hole roost wherever she goes. It's so funny to watch her and Braxton because she can totally hold her own. She is the best baby ever, no joke. I can't believe how mellow she is and how her little personality is always so happy. Thank you Heavenly Father for this beautiful little girl.


My point is illustrated in the above picture. She has never fought sleep in her life....when she is tired she does things like this and we know it is time to go home and lay her down.

Here she is sitting on Carson. Carson is always getting picked on by Adelle. I think Adelle thinks Carson is like her brother and doesn't realize he is the same size that she is.

Here is Adelle Wednesday morning at a play date at Dawson's. These cute boys are Ezra (far left) and Riley. Four little boys and my sweet little girl.

Here we are at the park on Wednesday as well. Bama (my mom) took Braxton on a bike ride, then to lunch and then to the park because as Braxton put it..."no, please, I don't want to go home." My little Mr. Social.

Here's sis satisfied after a meal. Her arms are a little tan from being outside so much...you can tell because the creases in her arms are still white.

Plant smiles.....Grow giggles.....Harvest LOVE

The sun was shining today and Jeff had the day off (double horray) so we got out and finished up our garden. It was a blast. Our kids sure know how to get down and get dirty. Braxton kept saying, "wow, what a great day for workin'" and "wow, we are really workin' mans dad" and "mom, you are the workin' girl with sis."

Their favorite part was riding back and forth in the wheel barrell. We didn't make it into the parade tonight but we had our own parade in the back yard.

The little farmers taking a ride aka Jeff working out his biceps:)

I love this picture where you can see their dirty little toes. These kids love the dirt!

It was a great day outside. We bought the good organic soil and I'm glad we did because Adelle was eating it most of the morning....She won't eat green beans but she'll eat dirt?