Gender Reveal!

Watch this little video to see if Ashby Baby #2 is a baby boy or girl!!



We are so excited!! :] 

Stepping Away from Social Media

The title of this post makes it sound like I'm about to delete my blog/Facebook/Instagram but that is not the case. The past couple of weeks I have just been trying to step away from doing these things all day, every day. I don't even want to take a guess at how much time I have wasted doing these things in the past but I have made a goal to dial it back.

In the past few weeks/months I started to realize how much time I was around my family but not really engaged with my family. I was getting frustrated with Holland and not paying attention to Race because I was too busy on my phone. It was ridiculous. So I deleted Facebook, Bloglovin' and almost all the games off my phone {pretty much everything except for Instagram since I can't access that from the computer--I'm just having to practice self control}.

This has been hard for me but it has also been such a good thing. I am learning to be more patient with Holland and to have more engaging, enjoyable conversations with Race. And even with those apps deleted from my phone I still find time to use social media! In fact, now that I sit down at a computer to read blogs I actually comment since it's much easier to use the keyboard than to type on my phone! It is also so much more relaxing for me to have a specified time to view my social medial. Instead of having it at my fingertips all day I sit down for a few minutes in the evening or during Holland's naps to take some time for myself.

I am far from perfect at this and have even redownloaded and then redeleted the apps from my phone. It's pretty embarrassing how addicted I had become/still am to having these various social media outlets with me all day.

I don't see myself deleting any of these things permanently because I am so grateful for the wonderful friendships I have made and I love being able to keep in contact with friends and family who live far away {which is pretty much everyone since we moved}. I also love to share the joy that Holland brings to our family with others. I love to share the goofy things that she does, the new things she is learning, and the silly faces that she makes.

Social media is such a big part of modern society and I'm sure it will always be a part of my life as well as the lives of my children. I hope that as I learn to use it in good ways that I will be able to teach my children how to use it appropriately as well. It can be such a good tool if we learn to use it properly!

And now, go here to see some kisses for all of you wonderful people who make me never want to completely disappear from the world of social media!

Holland's First Birthday

I should preface this post by saying that Holland's birthday was almost three months ago {August 15th}! I'm finally getting around to writing about it--better late than never! :] 

Holland got to celebrate her first birthday THREE times!! The first time was with Race's family while Holland and I were in Arizona. Holland got to spend it with her Gram and Granddad Ashby and almost all of her Ashby cousins! It was the day before her birthday AND she even got to welcome her brand new baby cousin Nora Ashby who was born that day! She had fun sharing her yummy cupcakes with Granddad!

Her second celebration was in Chandler with my family. During the day my friend Jac came over and spoiled Holland with hoards of adorable clothes and cake pops from Starbucks. Holy heck those things are good! I snuck a couple of bites! Holland loves her Aunt Jac! 

Later that day a bunch of Holland's Olmstead cousins made their way over to the house for a little celebration and birthday singing as well! Holland's oldest cousin Jude even helped her blow out her candle which she thought was pretty funny! She got to eat a yummy ice cream sandwich this time around! It was so nice to be around family for Holland's birthday!

Holland's final birthday celebration was in Idaho with our friends and family up there. I hate that I always forget to take pictures of the guests so I'll write it in here so I don't forget who all was there! Race's sister Tyne and brother-in-law Patrick were there along with Holland's cousin Madison. Then we had our friends Claire and Devin with their baby Ava and our other good friends Callie and Bryce. It was the perfect size crowd for our apartment and they were all just the people we wanted to celebrate Holland's first birthday with. We are so grateful to all of them for being our best friends in Idaho and loving on Holland so much this last year!

We did some quick decorations with pictures of Holland from her first year and then a banner my aunt made and a  yummy cake. Holland wore an adorable dress I thrifted before I was even pregnant and we just hung out, sang to her, opened presents, and ate some yummy {not pictured} Texas sheet cake and ice cream. 

Holland sat on her Aunt Tyne's lap to open all of her presents. It was adorable. 

Tyne is one of her very favorite people and we are so grateful to live near her! 

Holland enjoyed digging into her cake and had her friends join in at the end! They all had a good time and got nice and messy! 

I don't have pictures of her presents but she received tons of awesome things {clothes, IKEA kitchen toys, a little adorable animal train, puzzles, books, etc.}! She is one lucky girl and we love her so much!  Our first year with her was full of sleepless nights and lots of crying {from all of us!} but it is so worth it to watch her grow and learn every day!

Halloween 2013

Our Halloween was just perfect! The morning started out  in cute Halloween jammies and hanging out with cousin Madison. These girls just have too much fun together! Especially when they aren't fighting!

That evening we got the girls dressed up to go trick-or-treating. Holland and Madison were little Pocahontas girls. I made their tutus, Tyne found their cute necklaces at American Eagle and then we grabbed a couple of things from their closets and Hobby Lobby to complete the look. We thought they looked pretty adorable in their costumes! They had TONS of fun trick-or-treating. Knocking on the doors and grabbing handfuls of candy! Holland always wanted to go back for more! We made it to quite a few houses and luckily it wasn't too cold for the girls. It definitely wore Holland out because she slept great that night! 

We didn't get any family pictures so this will have to count. 

{Also, can you spot my 16.5 week baby bump?!} 

Our three trick-or-treaters: Ava, Madison, and Holland {who didn't look in any of the group photos!}

When we got back to the house we let the girls dig into their candy for a few minutes while we watched an episode of The Walking Dead. It is kind of Halloween tradition for Race and I. The second year we were married we watched a bunch of the first season while passing out candy. I got so scared every time someone knocked on our door--I was pretty happy when we ran out of candy. The show still scares me so I mostly tune out but it is definitely a fun tradition! 

It was a successful Halloween! I loved dressing Holland up and hey, I can't complain about free candy! Maybe next year we'll actually do some type of family costume...we'll see! I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!