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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Taylie's My Little Pony Party


My niece Taylie turned 3 in Feb so we headed out to the Atkinson's house for her My Little Pony Birthday Party. She is seriously a funny and adorable little girl. Her and Kira have become the best of friends and they both love hanging out with the other one. 

I also got to snuggle with Lexie the youngest of the Atkinson Clan. We all had a blast and the cake Steph made not only looked great but taste amazing! 







Thursday, March 12, 2015

Holy S"censored"...


Tis true. Andy and I are engaged! We are super excited. 
It's been a while in the making but it's finally official. 
September 12, 2015

Here's how our story goes.

Andy and Kira proposed on Sunday February 22nd. I was in the middle of making a cake (well it was in the oven) so I headed down to the studio to edit some pictures while Andy and Kira went outside to play, or so I thought. They came down to the studio to see what I was doing a little while later. Kira had her arms behind her back and said they had a surprise for me. "You have to come up stairs", she said. Andy's like "it's ok we can give it to her here". Kira refused. We headed up stairs and my timer was going off (good thing they came down to get me).  We got to the kitchen and Kira hands me a small box. Then she gets nervous and shy and hides behind dad. Andy said they needed to do it right and took the box back and turned to talk to Kira. He got down on one knee with Kira at his side. They opened the box up. It was a gorgeous ring. Kira was still a little shy but she said "Will you marry" and then she pointed to dad who was next to / behind her. She did the whole head leaning and pointing thing but wouldn't actually say his name. I wish we had a video of it, it was cute. She then asked me to be her mom. She and Andy helped put the ring on and I gave them both hugs. I thought I had said "of course" but after a minute Andy said "I'm guessing that's a yes?".  I was tied up in the moment and either said it too quiet or not at all. ha Of course I cried, but only a little. 


We headed to Andy's Parents for Sunday dinner shortly after the cake was done. I asked him in the car what he wanted to say to them and he said he wasn't going to say anything and just see what happens. We were the first family there. Andy's parents were making dinner / hanging out in the kitchen. I took the cake in and Kira immediately came over and told grandma and grandpa they needed to see my finger. I guess we let Kira announce it! I waited for her to say something to Kade or Andy's sisters at dinner and she never did. So after we had ate I told Kira to share our secret with everyone. She didn't want to. ha ha . So we told them we were getting married, then she was excited. 



After dinner and dropping Kira off at her mom's we headed to my parents house. I had tried to get my sisters to come over and play games but Steph's kids were sick and Shayna had to work. Andy and I played Cover your Assets with my mom and dad. I waited for a good opportunity to overly expose my left hand during the game when I battled my dad for some expensive Jewels. My mom immediately caught on and grabbed my hand. My dad was still battling me for the cards. ha it was classic. They were both excited and my dad said "It's about time". 



The Ring 

 Andy actually personally designed this one on this own, with NO help from me. WOW. I am impressed! The ring in the top photo / save the date card is actually my ring. It's got an amazing rose gold inlay in the sides with a beautiful full 1 carat diamond suspended in a tension setting. There are three small diamonds on either side of the center stone. The white gold is brushed, not polished for a more classic old style slightly different metal look to it... I absolutely love it. 

I knew it was coming but he caught me off guard by a few weeks. I was expecting it sometime in March. I was fitted for it in January and they actually had it done and delivered to Andy by Valentines Day. Sneaky guy! Part of it was up in the air for quite a while on whether they could do it or not and it came right down to they'd have to actually try to make it to find out. Andy sure doesn't do things easy, does he? I'm not complaining though, it's completely 100% worth it. 

One time when we went in to get some questions answered Kira said, "we're at the Ring store again"? I was shocked. I had no idea she had even been to the ring store, and kept it a secret from me! Well played Mr Hansen, well played. 

Another time we headed to my parents after leaving SE Needham and Kira had told my dad we just left the ring store. I don't think he caught on cause he just dismissed it and kept the conversation between the two of them going! 

I love it Andy. And I love you. I am excited to be your wife and partner in crime. Not that it will change much of our life but making it official finally fits us. Kira is overly excited and talks about the wedding all the time. She's excited to pick out her dress, I'm sure I'm going to have to wind her into a corner on what she is going to wear. She wants to wear purple, and that's not exactly one of our colors. lol 



We slowly spread the word to family and friends throughout the week. On Friday we went to Maddox for Dinner, just the two of us, to celebrate. 



I'm sure I'll post wedding details along the way so stay tuned to see more wedding details. 

Friday, March 6, 2015

Gymnastics!

Kira goes to Tumbling and Andy and I get to pick her up every Wednesday after we get off work. Last week she had a testing day. She did well and has a few things she still needs to work on. She seems to enjoy class and is very talkative. 


Thursday, February 19, 2015

More of Baby Karli... and Max

Last Sunday we went to the Hansen's for dinner. Andy's sister and her family were there and we got to snuggle with baby Karli. Kira actually asked to hold her this time, She did great. Though she only held her for a few seconds it was pretty adorable.  


Earlier that day I was working in the studio and Max had to come hang out. 
He relaxed on my new chair. I think it's his new favorite spot.  


Monday, February 16, 2015

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Happy Valentine's Day! 

We had a fabulous Valentine's day this year. We got Kira the entire weekend because of Presidents Day on Monday and we loved it. 

First thing Kira wanted to do when she woke up was open her present. That girl! 




 After Kira dressed herself (notice the plethora of necklaces she has on?) and I did her hair she started painting. I grabbed my Camera before she could notice and got this shot... The rest were posted/planned but just this one was unknown and I sort of love it.










Then we made the famous Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies! Kira loved eating the cookie dough, sugar and salt. AND we had to make her cookie a rainbow instead of red. 



I'm sure this is her favorite part :)





 My little helper Kira this weekend and I couldn't be happier. I've truly been blessed to be apart of Andy and Kira's lives. They complete me. And though I would have never imagined my life and being a step mom of sorts I wouldn't have it any other way. They made my Valentine's day worth so much more by just being together. 



 That evening we went over to a friends house for a spectacular dinner, jewelry, chocolate covered strawberries and we watched Box Trolls. It was a great evening. 





I love this man. No matter what life can throw at us he literally makes me smile every day. We have rough times for sure and I have to learn to be patient but it works for us. He is by my side through the seriously tough times and all the happiest of my life. And. I. love. it. 



More photos and explaination about the photos of the Painting and Sugar Cookies on my Photography blog: 




Friday, February 13, 2015

Playing with some of my Loves / Parent Teacher Conference

Thursday I was killing time after work and before Parent Teacher Conferences with Kira so I headed to my mom's to see my sister Steph and Lexie. Collin was there too so we hung out as well. He has a "Boot" on his foot because he broke it in 3 places jumping off the stairs last week. Lexie was super cute and LOVES to get into everything she can reach. Collin and I played Ninja Turtles for a minute. Super cute kids!







I then headed to Bridger Elementary to meet Andy, Kira, Misha and Roger for Parent Teacher Conferences. I missed the last one so I was excited to see how well she had been doing at school. We don't hear much about school and never see her homework so we aren't sure what she works on, is learning or how to help her. We ask her every time we get her about school and try to coax information from her and ask intriguing questions but with very little response back. Her scores this round were amazing and she went from very below average at the start of the school year to above average! Way to go Kira. Daddy and Stacey are so proud of you. 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone has a fabulous valentines day! I took Valentine pictures of Kira last week and she actually did good! She took quite a few pictures with her "Fake" smile but she got some beautiful ones as well. She's missing some front teeth but she's super cute regardless.