My cousin, Alyssa, took our family pictures a few weeks ago, something that hasn't been done professionally since Emma was 6 months old.  If you want to see more of Alyssa's work, you can check out her website.

After all of this (and more)...

We were excited to get this...

Emma Rae's 2nd Birthday in the eyes of Alyssa Gaskill

Alyssa took pictures at Emma's birthday party back on April 10, but she's been really busy trying to sell her house.  That means I don't have the pictures yet (like I'd have had time to blog about it anyway).  So I was THRILLED to see that she blogged about Emma's party today.  You can check it out on her blog.  Enjoy!

Blank Park Zoo

Back in November, the kids and I enjoyed a morning at the zoo with my cousin Alyssa and her boy Drew.  It was great because they have a family+ pass (or something like that), so we all got in free.

John's Scrapbook

 

 

The background for John's pages came from the Boy Oh Boy kit by Summertime Designs.

Emma's Scrapbook

 

 

 The background for Emma's pages is from the Fangs for the Memories kit by Summertime Designs.

Brittany and Andy Ashcraft's wedding

My cousin Brittany got married Thanksgiving weekend.  It was a beautiful wedding with the best DJ...my wonderful husband!

John's Scrapbook

Emma's Scrapbook

John and Emma's Scrapbook

These pages were created using the Dinner Party kit by Sara Carling for Shabby Princess.

Jackie's Baby Shower...finally posted (2 months late)

Hard to believe that it's been over 2 months since my mom and I surprised Jackie with a baby shower...and that Macy has joined us outside of the womb.  =)  It was great fun actually being able to pull it all off with so many friends and family there.  Here are a few pictures from the shower:

walking in to our church - still not completely realizing what's going on since she thought we were doing Christmas baking

surprise!  (sorry - forgot to take out the red eye)

yummy cake

ready for stinky diapers

Andi Dykstra (one of Matt and Jackie's friends) and Jackie - only 2 weeks difference in their due dates.  It's so not fair that some people (ummm...Jackie!) don't even look pregnant when they're 32 weeks pregnant!!!

A New Look

Thanks to Alyssa at AG Design, I have a new look to my blog.  Doesn't this look SOOOO much better?

Flip Flop Crop #2

I had an AWESOME time at the second Flip Flop Crop at the lake. Alyssa and her mother-in-law Terri hosted a great weekend of food, prizes, fellowship, and most importantly, time to scrapbook! I completed about 8 pages in our Christmas album, and if I remember correctly, 17 pages in Emma's baby album. Below are some of my favorites from Emma's album:

Alyssa had finished A LOT of pages earlier in the week. She didn't get as much done during the Flip Flop Crop, but her creative pages were AMAZING!

Aunt Arlys working hard

A few of my favorite pages:

Food table:

Park Fun with the Gaskills

Alyssa had the day off, so she and Drew came to Pleasant Hill for fun at the park with us. Click here to see Alyssa's blog entry on our fun times. Here are a few of the pictures I took:

Drew and Emma had more fun climbing the stairs. Drew kept crawling, which shocked Alyssa. We think he wasn't too sure about seeing the ground through the flooring of the equipment. Emma held on VERY tightly to the rails as she walked/crawled up. Oh, and this picture HAD to be posted since it's the only one I had of Alyssa. Sorry babe!
Drew and Emma went in the baby swing together. It was a little tighter squeeze this year. Click here to see the pictures we took of them in a swing together last summer. Notice that this didn't require blankets between them this time.