Happy Easter 2012...

As Rylie grows older, (what seems like a lot each day), I realize more and more how strong my desire is to create an amazing childhood for her.  She doesn't understand everything yet, but she sure tries, and I enjoy so much guiding her through her experiences.  And, of course, on special occasions like Easter weekend, the camera goes non-stop.  I took some really cute photo's of her and the family this weekend.  A little recap before I we get into pictures...  Nana and Pops came to Tulsa for Easter weekend and we had a great time.  Saturday we went to our Churches annual Easter Egg Hunt. It was great fun and there were tons of kids out there having a ball. They section off the Easter eggs by age group to give the younger kids a better change of not getting trampled over by the bigger kids.  Sunday after church I cooked Easter lunch and we had our own Easter egg hunt in our back yard. We all had a ball spending time together.  My family is awesome! Life is so good! 

At our Church Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. Southern Hills Baptist Church sponsors a HUGE Easter egg hunt each year at a park that is right down the street from our house, making it very convenient to walk to. 

 

Rylie and this little boy went for the same egg and the little boy got to it first. He looked at Rylie and then handed the egg to her.  It was so cute. So Rylie put her basket down and gave him a hug. So sweet! 

 

Tracie brought Jared over to the park after his swim lesson. He's too young to pick up eggs, so he just giggled for uncle Brian.   

Pops and Rylie reading a book before bed on Easter eve.

 

Easter morning!  Rylie LOVES her vintage plastic bunny rabbit that lights up.  She kept hugging it and talking to it.  Poor thing wont come around again until next year, but it was the best Easter decor I think I bought this year.  Mr. Easter Bunny will be around for years and years!!

 

 

Rylie's eating her very first Peep. Little did I know the sugar high she would get from it. (I try very hard to limit her sugar intake.) She loved them!  I let her have two. The rest are in the trash!

 

Tracie striking a pose with her beautiful baby boy, Jared. He's almost 6 months old and his 9 month size clothes are TOO SMALL for him.  He'll be plowing Rylie down to get to the Easter eggs next year I'm sure!

Tracie, Allan and Jared.

All of us before heading to Church.  I love this picture! (and I love the easy-to-set 10 second timer on my camera!)

 

 

This was the only photo I could get where both kids kept their bunny ears on. Rylie was pulling them off faster than I could put them back on her.  She did not want to take part in playing a bunny! 

 

 

 

 

Racing to the back deck for another deviled egg!  Yummy!

 

The deviled eggs Tracie made. So cute!!!!

 

Happy Easter to everyone. I hope your holiday was filled with many blessings!  And thank you Lord, for giving your only son so that my sins could be forgiven.  On this Easter day, as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, I pray that you continue to fill my heart with patience, love, and selflessness.  You are an amazing God!   And as Rylie would say.... "nigh nigh Zezus". :)

I Love Spring...

This season of spring, popping up so quickly, has me giddy. I just love the changing of the seasons. :) ....it makes my soul happy....being curious for the mischiefs of new life blooming all around us.  Watching my landscaping grow.  It's my awesome season of having conversations with my outside plants.  My white flowering dogwood that i planted last year came back. I am very excited about this. It was touch and go last winter, it's first year in the ground.  I thought we lost it two different times when the weather froze.  But it's currently got pretty white flowers on it!  yay :)   This is my 3rd attempt to grow a white flowering dogwood tree.  I adore these pretty little things!  I'm thinking about planting a pink one. so pretty.

Rylie is enjoying the garden play time. She loves to play outside. I've also noticed, this last week to be exact, her interesting obsession with her doll and her blanky. (I only point this out because i'm thinking about that as I see this pic.)  She wants to take her doll every where she goes. And she will randomly realize that she doesn't have it with her and then she pauses in the middle of what she's doing and says "baby?"  But then she starts to get anxious, looking for her.  it's cute, but I don't want Rylie to start having anxiety at such an early age.  Let's just hope those items don't get lost before she moves on to loving something else.  :)

This is what i've done with part of the backyard.  That rose bush is the only plant that I kept when I bought the house. She ends up getting black spot every year and looks pretty pathetic by summers end, but she blooms out some really pretty dark pink roses every year.  I think I'm going to prune her differently this year. Instead of bush style, i'm going to prune her vine style. We'll see what happens! :)  Brian and I love working in the yard together, we've done SO much to it these last few years. I love it and I love creating this great environment for Rylie.  And yes, that is a little wooden milk cow I have sitting in the yard. Her name is Bessy. Rylie likes to sit on her and say "moooo".  so cute!  (If you know where to look, you can see my white flowering dogwood i was talking about. you can see it behind the swing.)

We planted some annuals tonight.  My flower obsession for this blooming season is below.  Last year it was Petunias.  This year... it's Superbells.  I love the deep colors and the variety of colors. The big pot in the above pic is also full of them. six different colors of them. I cant wait to see them all bloom out!

These are Dianthus.  I love the rich colors. This pot will be so beautiful when these grow!

Rylie and daddy racing to the end of the deck.  Rylie won!

I love this picture of her. She's getting to be such a big girl with expressions of thought. She still amazes me everyday...developing her personality and mind. I love teaching her things and watching her grow.  We are so blessed. (Even when she's having nasty toddler meltdowns.)

Below is Rylie's own little gardening station that she got for Christmas. She likes imitating mommy. LOVE THAT!! :)

So here's to Spring, 2012!  May you all bear the fruits of your labors... and take the time to enjoy every minute of it.  I am planting my tomatoes and squash this weekend. Last year my attempt to grow squash failed. But i'm trying it again this year. A little differently, a little better.  :)

Back From KAH 2012...

Yes, that's right. This is not an illusion, folks. I'm blogging about my vacation the very next day after getting back from vacation. That vacation did me some good. :)  KAH 2012 was an amazing get away. Ahhhh Anguilla. happy sigh. :)   That island is the most beautiful place in the Caribbean! So incredibly amazing. I loved it.  I loved every part of it.  I loved how rural it is. As I sit here writing this, I want to go back.  BarclayNutt KAH forever. I hope to write an Anguilla getaway post EVERY year. :)

We flew into St Marten International Airport. A beautiful island, itself.  I wouldn't mind spending a vacation there, but I think I'd like to stay on the French side of the island.

The St. Marten airport is located right on the coast. There is a cool bar, Sunset Bar and Grill, that is right off the edge of the runway, outside the airport property.  People will sit here all day and just watch planes take off and land.  We did that a while, ourselves... (If we weren't sitting there watching it, i'd think that plane was photoshopped in!)

This is a pretty one from the water taxi taking us over to Anguilla.  Bye St. Martin...

 Our famous "first night" picture. Always with our t-shirts on.  So goofy. I love it! :)  This was at the pool bar, shortly after we checked in to our villa.

And the beauty of the island begins to show!  The island of Anguilla is only 35 square miles, so it was easy to go all over from one end to another exploring the place.  This is a view from one of the high areas on the main road.  Of course we had to get out of the car and set the timer on the camera for a group shot. I loved dressing in beach attire all week.

Our beach. This was Cove Bay beach.

A small fishing bay called Sandy Ground.  This was a beautiful area.

One of the few churches on the island. All very small in size.

One of the few schools on the island.

 Da Vita restaurant, on Crocus Bay. I loved this restaurant!

One of the places tourists can get a local tour of nearby Little Bay. We got dropped off there for a couple hours to explore.  This was one of my favorite days of exploring.  Calvin, who's office is located under that big tree, is the neighborhood tour guide. I love that!! A man and his boat.

 Hi Calvin.

Little Bay.  An amazing little beach.

Notice the cave behind that rock wall. We climbed in and explored. It was awesome! We wanted to stay the night in the cave and build a bon fire, but Calvin advised against it.  I think the cave must fill up with bats every night.

One of only a few local night spots.  They sure keep the rum punch flowing though!

Lunch on the beach, anyone?  Uncle Ernie's had great burgers. 

The island has an abundance of goats running around.

And amazing views from every angle!

Anguilla's version of "fast food".  There were many local road side food places like this one.  (Not one single chain, franchise, or anything like that on this island. Which was awesome!)  We stopped here for Johnny Cakes (which is similar to fry bread).  Although they didn't have their Johnny Cakes ready yet, they had cold beer...and a local dog that decided to befriend our rental car.

Dress up night!  And of course some pictures before heading out to another resort on the island for dinner.

Can someone say BEAUTIFUL BEACH, anyone?  Beautiful beaches and awesome snorkeling.  We saw some really pretty fish. It was also really cool snorkeling at the different beaches on the island. Each beach, although equally beautiful, had different water currents and different underwater topography. The water temperature was always perfect and the snorkeling was great!

Jeremy and Amy soaking it all in!

 The Dune Preserve beach bar. Ranked #1 Beach Bar for 2011 by CNN.  And I can see why. This place is unbelievable. Made out of drift wood and with a tree house feel, it is right on the water. The owner, Bankie Banks, lives there.  http://ivisitanguilla.com/cnn-ranks-the-dune-preserve-1/

Seriously, I had the best seat in the house!

The menu for the day. Just written down on a scrap piece of paper.

There are a few more photo's I'll post once I get Amy's pictures.  We had a picture taken with Bankie Banks, the owner of the Dune Preserve.  He's somewhat of a local celebrity around the island. A few years ago he started Moon Splash, an annual beach lovers slash reggae music event.  I'd love to go back for that some year.  This was a spectacular get away and, although I ended up getting a caribbean stomach bug that slowed me down a lot the last couple days of the trip, I think I enjoyed this island more than any of the other's we've visited on our cruises.  It was just a heavenly place. We'll be back, Anguilla. We'll be back!  KAH!