Wednesday, August 10
Wednesday, June 29
Summertime is a busy-time!
Summers in Fairbanks are short, so we try to make the most of the time we're able to spend outside camping, hiking and traveling. This summer is no exception! Today is overcast and cool, so I'm taking a few moments to share about how (busy!) we've been....
To start the summer off, Isaac (my younger brother) qualified for the 3A division state track meet in the 4x100 relay. It was hosted in Fairbanks this year, so I was very excited to be able to see Ike and his teammates compete. My mom and sister Olivia came too!
The very next week, we were off to the Carolinas to see my mom's and dad's families - aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and my older brother, Peter! We hit the ground running as soon as we got there and didn't stop until our airplane landed back in Fairbanks two weeks later! We went to the beach, spent time at the pools, lounged around, and enjoyed a LOT of love from family. It was especially fun for everyone to meet Makenna for the first time and for Taylor to make these new memories with her FUN aunts and Uncle Peter! While we were at the beach for Memorial Day weekend, Makenna turned 1. Can it be that it's already been more than a year? I can hardly believe it...
This is how Makenna celebrated her first birthday :)
"Ohh, what a pretty little flame! Maybe I should grab it before someone tries to stop me..."
Bad idea, Kenna....
Chocolate cake: the perfect cure for ANY female breakdowns!
She had this entire "pool" to herself- what a treat! Without a diaper, too! Just glad that the tides come and go, because there's no telling what that water consisted of after she got through with it!
King Naptime and his little Princess
What a life!
Lots of pool time at Mimi's and Papa's neighborhood pool- so fun!
Love this :)
Taylor and Papa formed a special little bond on this trip- I think she's a favorite with him :)
She stole Aunt Karen's heart too...
Uncle Peter with his girls :)
So proud of my little fish for attempting to swim by herself!
Cousins, Kristen and Ashley- the 3 of us a rare sight together!
Sweet Aunt Karen loved on my girls a lot- and helped me out so much!
Aunt Debby was a favorite with Kenna
No words. Just love this photo :)
My beautiful Aunt Dana and Aunt Cathy!
Mimi was digging my iPhone- what a trip!
Papa circa WWII
Mimi 1945
Visiting the resting place of Taylor Lucille's namesake... my sweetest Grandma Lucille. Boy, do I miss that precious woman....
Matt and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on June 9th, separated by 3000 miles. I was happy to return to him and to be able to celebrate over prime rib and yummy salad at The Turtle Club, a local favorite of ours.
I am in the process of starting my sewing business, Tooty Lu Handmade - named after my Taylor Lucille (it's her nickname), my inspiration to learn how to sew, and a tribute to my Grandma Lucille, an amazing seamstress and quilter herself. I am currently working on building my inventory and getting things up-and-running. I'll be sure to spread the word once everything is going! I'll be selling on Etsy and hopefully at local shops and bizarres in Fairbanks.
You can see more photos of our summer vacation and outings on Shutterfly! Email me for the password- hollydblood@yahoo.com.
Sunday, May 1
Thursday, March 24
March update
I'm finding it hard to believe how fast this winter has passed. At 7:00 pm, the sun is still shining through the windows in our house and I can hear the water dripping from our gutters, the snow quickly melting away. I love Fairbanks in the spring! Another week or two and we will be seeing bare ground. To most of you, this doesn't mean much, but I am ecstatic to be able to go on a walk on ground that isn't hazardous to me!
I took a recent trip with the girls to Haines. Matt is a gracious man and he volunteered to make the 650-mile trek to Haines on a Saturday to "drop us off" and then drive back to Fairbanks the following day to make it back to work for a week. Then, a week later, he returned to "pick us up" (see a few pictures of our Haines trip below and the rest by clicking here in the Winter 2010 album - email me for the password). Oh, the joys of being a one-car family. I was so happy to spend my Mama's 50th birthday with her. We celebrated with some good ole Southern goodies: Honey Buns, Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies, Cheerwine, Sun-Drop, Luzianne tea, boiled peanuts, and a Paula Deen strawberry cake per Mama's request. It was so fun!
While in Haines, the power steering on my mom's trusty old van croaked, so my parents are in the market for a new vehicle. Living in a town where car dealerships are non-existent proves to be a bit of a dilemma when you need a new car, so they did a bit of online-shopping in Fairbanks, where they discovered a steal at a local dealership. To help them out in their car-buying experience, we went and test-drove the car they liked. We've recently been in the market for a new vehicle ourselves, so after we left the dealership for my parents, we drove around another car lot to see if we could find any deals. We had narrowed down the vehicle we wanted to a specific make, model, color, and year - a 2009 Honda Pilot EX-L, dark in color, beige interior. This is Fairbanks, where Ford and Chevy pick-ups or Subarus tend to be the vehicle of choice by locals. We had been doing all of our shopping in the Seattle area. The plan was when we found "our car", Matt would fly down, pick the thing up, and drive it back up to Fairbanks (yikes!). So when we saw the EXACT car I mentioned above at this local car dealership in our EXACT price range, we were, naturally, shocked. One day after we saw the thing, we bought it. And I am proud to announce that we are now the proud owners of a fantastic new-to-us car :) I can, of course, attribute our purchase to my parents' purchase. Had we not been on that side of town test-driving a car for them, we never would have found our awesome new car! Thanks, Mom and Dad! In this case, yes, you were right :)
Taylor will be turning three in 8 days. I am so proud of what a sweet, smart and beautiful "big" girl she's become. Her friends just love her people are always complimenting her on her sweet disposition. It's a special thing for me to know that my girl is admired so much by others. I can't even begin to tell you what a treasure she is to me (and Matt, of course!).
Makenna is "into everything", as they say. She is crawling and pulling up on furniture, eating solid "big girl" foods, and on the verge of busting out some words. I can never get enough of her sweet voice and silly little squeals. She loves her big sister so much and I am in love with watching them play together. Kenna has learned to (open-mouth, slobber) kiss her sister. They're a trip as a little sister-duo! I am loving watching them grow up together!
Matt's sister, Janie and her husband Tim just had another baby girl, Gracie, at the end of February (big sister, Natalie, is the same age as Taylor). Our family is growing and full of girls, girls, girls! Four grand-daughters now for Matt's parents... I am so excited for the years to come with all these girl cousins so close in age!
Enjoy these latest pictures of our family!
I took a recent trip with the girls to Haines. Matt is a gracious man and he volunteered to make the 650-mile trek to Haines on a Saturday to "drop us off" and then drive back to Fairbanks the following day to make it back to work for a week. Then, a week later, he returned to "pick us up" (see a few pictures of our Haines trip below and the rest by clicking here in the Winter 2010 album - email me for the password). Oh, the joys of being a one-car family. I was so happy to spend my Mama's 50th birthday with her. We celebrated with some good ole Southern goodies: Honey Buns, Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies, Cheerwine, Sun-Drop, Luzianne tea, boiled peanuts, and a Paula Deen strawberry cake per Mama's request. It was so fun!
While in Haines, the power steering on my mom's trusty old van croaked, so my parents are in the market for a new vehicle. Living in a town where car dealerships are non-existent proves to be a bit of a dilemma when you need a new car, so they did a bit of online-shopping in Fairbanks, where they discovered a steal at a local dealership. To help them out in their car-buying experience, we went and test-drove the car they liked. We've recently been in the market for a new vehicle ourselves, so after we left the dealership for my parents, we drove around another car lot to see if we could find any deals. We had narrowed down the vehicle we wanted to a specific make, model, color, and year - a 2009 Honda Pilot EX-L, dark in color, beige interior. This is Fairbanks, where Ford and Chevy pick-ups or Subarus tend to be the vehicle of choice by locals. We had been doing all of our shopping in the Seattle area. The plan was when we found "our car", Matt would fly down, pick the thing up, and drive it back up to Fairbanks (yikes!). So when we saw the EXACT car I mentioned above at this local car dealership in our EXACT price range, we were, naturally, shocked. One day after we saw the thing, we bought it. And I am proud to announce that we are now the proud owners of a fantastic new-to-us car :) I can, of course, attribute our purchase to my parents' purchase. Had we not been on that side of town test-driving a car for them, we never would have found our awesome new car! Thanks, Mom and Dad! In this case, yes, you were right :)
Taylor will be turning three in 8 days. I am so proud of what a sweet, smart and beautiful "big" girl she's become. Her friends just love her people are always complimenting her on her sweet disposition. It's a special thing for me to know that my girl is admired so much by others. I can't even begin to tell you what a treasure she is to me (and Matt, of course!).
Makenna is "into everything", as they say. She is crawling and pulling up on furniture, eating solid "big girl" foods, and on the verge of busting out some words. I can never get enough of her sweet voice and silly little squeals. She loves her big sister so much and I am in love with watching them play together. Kenna has learned to (open-mouth, slobber) kiss her sister. They're a trip as a little sister-duo! I am loving watching them grow up together!
Matt's sister, Janie and her husband Tim just had another baby girl, Gracie, at the end of February (big sister, Natalie, is the same age as Taylor). Our family is growing and full of girls, girls, girls! Four grand-daughters now for Matt's parents... I am so excited for the years to come with all these girl cousins so close in age!
Enjoy these latest pictures of our family!
Taylor and Nana played this game a couple of times. Taylor finally called it quits when Nana zipped her belly, which made for a nice little "owie" on her stomach that she talked about and "showed" me for at least a week after it had healed :)
Kenna doesn't really do the playing-in-boxes thing well!
Bath time at Nana's & Papa's was a favorite for both girls
Every time someone left the house, Taylor liked to sit in this window and watch them as they drove away :)
Aunt Liv was my lifesaver since Matt wasn't there to help me parent. She was a champ and Taylor, as always, loved tagging along with her!
So sweet :)
Her face doesn't show it, but Kenna actually really enjoyed this sled-ride down our hill!
And she really loved it when her big sister hauled her around on the sled!
This is what happened about 2 minutes before we headed in for naptime....
Thursday, February 10
February update
As my girls are growing, I'm finding less and less time for updates on our blog. Finally, a third day into having the flu, I've found a few moments to sit down and write.
Taylor's ever-growing vocabulary keeps Matt and I on our toes. Her little brain is like a magnet and she picks up everything she hears. She'll be 3 in April and I can't believe that much time has gone by since she was born. It feels like she's been a permanant fixture in our home- I don't really remember what life was like before she was here.
Makenna is 8 1/2 months old, constantly growing (duh!) and has recently begun to crawl. She and Taylor are polar opposites in appearance, but similar in disposition. They are starting to enjoy playing with each other, which, as I've heard parents with grown kids say, warms a mother's heart. And I'd certainly have to agree! It is precious and it does more than warm my heart. It melts my heart! Loving my girls individually is something special, but watching them love each other is wonderful.
We have enjoyed a mild winter and now that we're almost in mid-February, I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume we are out of harm's way for anything colder than 30 below. I am so glad! Long winters aren't so bad until they involve 40-50 below weather. I just don't handle that kind of cold very well.
With very little time to update our blog, I have even less time to work on my sewing projects. However, two friends of mine are having little girls and I just couldn't resist these precious things :)
Taylor's ever-growing vocabulary keeps Matt and I on our toes. Her little brain is like a magnet and she picks up everything she hears. She'll be 3 in April and I can't believe that much time has gone by since she was born. It feels like she's been a permanant fixture in our home- I don't really remember what life was like before she was here.
Makenna is 8 1/2 months old, constantly growing (duh!) and has recently begun to crawl. She and Taylor are polar opposites in appearance, but similar in disposition. They are starting to enjoy playing with each other, which, as I've heard parents with grown kids say, warms a mother's heart. And I'd certainly have to agree! It is precious and it does more than warm my heart. It melts my heart! Loving my girls individually is something special, but watching them love each other is wonderful.
We have enjoyed a mild winter and now that we're almost in mid-February, I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume we are out of harm's way for anything colder than 30 below. I am so glad! Long winters aren't so bad until they involve 40-50 below weather. I just don't handle that kind of cold very well.
With very little time to update our blog, I have even less time to work on my sewing projects. However, two friends of mine are having little girls and I just couldn't resist these precious things :)
Tuesday, December 28
What a wonderful Christmas season we've had! I have so many things that I'm grateful for, I don't even know where to begin. First, let me begin by saying that the thing I'm more thankful for than anything else is the hope I've been given through the life, death and resurrection of my Jesus! Every year, the reality of Jesus' birth hits me a little harder than the last. It's just amazing how He came to us, isn't it? I am blessed to know the truth of this sacred holiday.
Now for the rest. Here's what I'm especially thankful for this Christmas season:
Now for the rest. Here's what I'm especially thankful for this Christmas season:
- Matthew. I've got a husband who loves me beyond what I deserve and I am so grateful for his devotion to me. I am blessed to have a man who sticks by my side through everything. He is wonderful, a gift from my Father. I couldn't have hand-picked a better fella!
- Taylor and Makenna. I thank God every single day for my precious girls. They are healthy, happy children. I am just moved to tears, imagining why God chose me to be their mama. I am so thankful for motherhood. My cup runneth over!
- Family. This "thanks" is extended to all of my family. My parents, brothers and sisters, in-laws, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (blood relation and not). What a joy it is to have family who not only loves me, but whom I love! I love how BIG my family is and how much we all care for each other. It's awesome!
- Friends. One reason Matt and I moved back to Fairbanks in 2008 was to be near our friends here. We have a fantastic, close-knit group of friends. They are our extension of family. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. If there's one thing in life people shouldn't live without, it's good friends.
- Home. In negative temperatures, I'm never more appreciative to have a warm, cozy house. I love our home. Every fun and quirky detail of it. I hope I live here forever.
- Gifts. And yes, I'm about to go materialistic on you here. I love presents! And why not be thankful for them? This year, as in every year past, I was swamped with nice, new things. One of my favorite parts of gifting, though, is watching Taylor open her new things. She got a new baby doll this year. It was really a joy to see her excitement over her new baby, who she's lovingly taken to calling Makenna. I love the thrill of surprising others with gifts. What a fun tradition gift-giving is! My favorite gift this year was this necklace from Matt, with the letters "m" and "t" on the charms. It's darling!
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