RIP Matthias Hanson

Today we lost a great man.  Matthias Hanson.  With his icy blue eyes, shy ways and sweet manner, he won the hearts of everyone he met.  Matt became part of my family thru the years, and will always remain.  I will never forget the Christmas' shared, all the memories at Megan's, and every moment of laughter and love.  It's a tragedy to lose a dear friend, especially at such a young age.  We love and miss you, Matt.  You will forever be remembered.  I honor you for your bravery in the Marines and the War.  May you rest in peace.  We love you!

I will never forget this day,  I was shooting Megan and Alex and Matt had to hold Nora, and she was screaming/crying the entire time.  He was so sweet with her and patient.  

Matt with his sister, bro-in-law, brother and sis-in-law.  

Matt with his sister, Megan. 

Matt with his brother and sister. 

"When tomorrow starts without me,
Don't think we're far apart,
For every time you think of me,
I'm right here, in your heart."

Nora Update

Here's a little update on my Sonora Rose.  (Sometimes I feel like using her whole name, and as her Momma, I usually do that when she's in trouble).  But she's not this time.  Lucky her. :)

So first I'm going to show you Nora's new eating adventure...using utensils!  She's actually doing pretty good with it. I'm not all that surprised,  she's loves detail, and she could find a needle in a haystack if need be.  Here she is doing her thanggg

Now let me break down these shots...

"You want me to do what with this?"

"okay, i got this...>grunt<...almost...there....."

"Better use my other hand to help..."

"I don't think I need this, Momma. Here, you have it."

So there she was, doing her fork thanggg.

Next,

She's so strange sometimes, I look over and she's making faces at the TV. 

She thinks it's sooo funny when someone talks to her on the phone.

My other child.

Nora's new 'throne'.  She's figured out how to climb up there, 

and I swear she thinks that no one can get to her. 

This picture could have a few captions. One might say,

"Mommy come get me, Daddy's farting again..."

LOL

I'll just leave it at that one.

_____

Drumroll please....

BUBBLES!!!

Nora's new favorite thing.  And my new challenge: to blow bubbles and 

focus a camera at the same time.  Still working on it.  

One popped on her face. 

And that's it.  That's what we've been up to around her in the wild west.  Bubbles, Forks, Tooting, Sleeping and a lot of working out, that I don't have on camera (you can thank the lord). ;)  

Have a wonderful night, y'all!!!!

Where would we be without our friends?

While I was back in my hometown, I was able to catch up with a good ole friend, let our kiddos run wild and veg out in front of the TV.  It was awesome, and I just don't know where I'd be if it weren't for my girl, Adryanne.

And I'm not sure where Nora would be without some Ava in her life.  (Ava is Adryanne's oldest girl & Nora's BF).  They were so cute playing together, watching Dora, laughing, crying and taking baths. And let me tell you, if there's one reason to have a baby when your best friend does, is to let them take baths together! It's a must and for some reason, us momma's get so much joy out of it.  (Funny to think how a couple years can change how Adryanne & I view an exciting weekend). ;)

So naturally, here are some photos from all of which I'm talking about...

I caught Ava hiding behind the recliner putting on her Momma's lipgloss. :)

Dustin saw these pics of Ava and said she looks like a young version of peter pan. (in a girl way), haha, so cute & I can see that!

 

now this is what a supermom looks like!

oh to be that young again...

Where would we be without our friends?! :)

Sweet Kaylee at bathtime.

Spagetti!

One of the joys about having a baby, is when the baby reaches the milestone of table food.  Well, it's a joy to watch, and a pain in the rear to clean up.  But oh well, if I didn't have anything to clean I would get out my aggression.  Momma needs to scrub hard and beat the chicken or she'll kill her husband.  We all know that.

The cleanup I'm talking mostly about is the Spaghetti kind.  Nora got her first taste of spaghetti and feeding it to herself.  It was so cute. And the bathtub had noodles in it for a weeks. KIDDING, I fished those suckers out and tossed them in trash, I'm not a slob.

So here she is, in all her spaghetti glory.

Favorite Things!

I'm going to start sharing with you my favorite (material) things in life.  Things that makes other things easier, prettier, perkier or yummier.  Here are a couple for now.

Let's start with perkier.  Victoria's Secret Ipex Sports Bra, This is the best sports bra I've ever owned. Hands down. Go get one, now! I have the Blue and Neon Yellow, it's cute and fits like a glove. The first time I've never had to wear 2 sports bra's at once.  Let me repeat:  The first time I've never had to wear 2 sports bra's at once.  I'll toast to that!

If you've ever used Pantene Pro-V then cursed out loud after using a bottle full because your hair felt like gunk, then you need this: Paul Mitchell's Tea Tree Special Shampoo. It's the most invigorating, cleansing shampoo I've ever used. And after a few washes my hair felt clean as a whistle.  It tingles and the smell is minty-fresh.  I'm not kidding when I say, that after using this my scalp felt colder because it could actually feel the wind against it! All that gunk was gone and my hair follicles could breath again. Amen Sistah!

And because it's just wrong to post without pictures, here's a shot of my lil ladybug sulking.  (she must have used Pantene Pro-V on accident and just realized the gunk).

Tour Guidin'

After the wild partying on Nora's birthday, a few of the partygoers and myself, wanted more excitement. So we decided an excursion to the farm would be the perfect end to a perfect afternoon.

We all hopped in Dustin's Grandfather's big ole' Dodge and I grabbed the camera.  I was beyond excited at this point because I love to show off the farm, and most everyone with us had never seen it! Score! So I was yapping the whole time, talking about how I was baptized on this here creek and telling stories of summers with papaw and my cousins, building forts,  falling off the back of the truck, farm dogs and barn cats and diggin up worms for fishin.

As I could tell from everyone's faces, they were pretty excited and into it all as well. But I had this one particular tourist who was beyond excited, he was tore up from the floor up.  And all about the cows. Mr. Jackson, little man himself could not keep it together. The entire time he hollered, "Moo Cow!" and his face lit up like it was christmas eve and he caught Santa under the tree.  I'm not even kidding, see for yourself...

Now get a closer look...

What did I tell ya? So sweet...

Riding down the lane..

Jackson and his Momma, Jessica

Moo Cow!

All the wild partygoers, L to R: Briana, Tara, Jared, Jessica, Jackson, and Aunt Judy

Our Kentucky Barn

Aunt Judy, Myself, Jessica and Jackson

He was excited, eh?! :)

Bonnie & Clyde

This is for all of you, who (I know) are dying to see what I see out of the window on a drive from Gillette, Wyoming to Rapid City, South Dakota.   You see, the thing is, the closest city with a mall or Pier 1 Imports or Boston's Pizza Place is Rapid City, 2 hours from Gillette.  So about once a month, or when I've been really good, Dustin will take me there and treat me to some food and the occasional outfit.  Only if I've been really good and cooked 'x' amount of meals, plus fold his laundry his way not mine, plus the whole remote control situation we all know and love, and if I do my hair once a week. (that's the hardest part).

Please, don't take any of that to heart, I'm being sarcastic and I'm not very good at it.  Obviously I need to get out of the house, I'm losing me marbles. :)

I have no idea why I didn't just erase all of the above...

Anyways, on with the show...
Here's what I see, riding shotgun with Clyde.

somewhere outside of Gillette, headed East on I-90

East on I-90

My favorite little mountain on the way to Rapid City. It's so cute...

:) My Clyde.

Her First Birthday!

My little one turned one last week. It's hard to believe, but it's true! She is growing faster than I can keep up, but that's alright with me.  I love every minute that goes swooshing by with her.  Although I thought she'd have more hair by now. Poor baby :) In due time...

So here are some photos of her fiesta!  We threw her big party back home in Kentucky the day before we flew back to Wyoming.  Lots of balloons, sweets and some dang good fellowshippin'.  Gotta love the fellowship.

hmm, what is this?

the monster within.

"Get in my belly!"

Too much sugar..

Nothing like water to quench your thirst. :)