double the pleasure double the fun

little miss scored big with 2 parties. she scored even bigger by having a grandma and grandpa/papa at each one. she thinks she scored the biggest because she actually got to eat something from the 'fats, oils, and sweets' food group at each party.

happy birthday, sweet baby girl!

we love you, annie mae!

family, friends, and furry pets

spending time with grandma and grandpa ballard

little miss got the chance to meet some of her great-grandparents:

great-grandma rosell in california

great grandma and grandpa ballard (it's not them...it's her)

annie LOVED being pulled on the blanket and riding on the long board with uncle benji (by riding i mean him sitting down with her and me pushing them...fast)

a visit to catch up on the woods family, eat some delicious food, and make sure annie's beau, trevor, is still committed.

a little dip in the pacific ocean

daniel's dog, annie (not to be confused with little miss), had 10 puppies! we thought annie (little miss) would love them as she loves all things fury and four-legged. she really didn't like them and just wanted to play with the annie (four-legged annie). go figure.

cousin time!

my talented sister-in-law, leanne, made these adorable outfits for the girls. i couldn't get over how cute they were (both the outfits and the girls)! thanks leanne!

stealing food from claire

these girls would sit by and bang on the sliding glass door until someone let them out to play. they love being outside. literally rain or shine, cold or hot...they're there.

this became the favorite activity. claire would push annie up and down the halls until annie crashed into a wall.

it was a tight squeeze. annie just couldn't quite suck in her gut enough for a comfortable fit.

other festive happenings

minute to win it...and win it we did. well, actually everyone was proclaimed a winner (you know, its always a tie at the 'y'! type of thing) but i've taken it upon myself to declare kevin and i the real, real winners (i'm sure everyone else has done the same...no probably not).

candy elevator

candy-cane hook

just kevin shakin' his groove thang (and trying to get the jingle bells out of a tissue box)

panty-hose bowling

shaking the cookie into my mouth from my forehead. be nice. i know i look mentally unstable and physically deformed...i don't need to be reminded.

pti

pardon the interruption from my enthralling 30 day post (which is obviously taking longer--much longer--than 30 days) but its time for a little holiday recap...

before we took our festive party cross-country to celebrate christmas in az, we had a little christmas cheer with mama and papa b:

once we landed in az the party didn't stop 'til 8 in the mornin'! well not really. it's more like it started at 4 in the morning...little annie mae's internal alarm clock was set for 4 am each morning for the first week, and slowly reset to 5:30 am for the last week. she gave us a christmas gift by sleeping in until 6:30 on christmas morning. that was the best gift we could've asked for...well, that and a new pair of running shoes.

annie's first christmas and she is already showing off her skills by winning the christmas present contest (santa and his elf might have been a little biased)

christmas eve:

leanne had made angel costumes for annie and claire to wear at the annual nativity reenactment. i'm pretty sure angel's didn't have binkies back then but when it's past the angel's bedtime and things get desperate, we'll trade tradition for peace.

it's not christmas eve without the stocking march!

brown paper packages tied up with strings

so when the dog's start barking and the bees start stinging, these are what i think of

(day 4: 20 of my favorite things)

1. annie's stink/cheese face (still to be captured on camera)

2. annie waving "bye-bye" and blowing kisses to me when i lay her down for a nap

3. ebelskivers on christmas morning

4. utah in the fall time

5. skiing

6. annie insisting on always keeping something in her mouth at all times while she goes about her business

7. sushi

8. finding a cold spot in the sheets

9. orange rolls

10. gator football

11. duke b-ball

12. the outdoors

13. discovering a really cool band that no one has heard of

14. kevin with scruff

15. mom's granola

16. french toast (one with butter, powdered sugar, raspberry sauce/jam and strawberries on top, the other with butter, powdered sugar and syrup on top. and they can't mix or touch each other).

17. i'm getting hungry and 20 is too many favorite things

18. the beach

19. staying up late with the bernhisel clan for game night

20. made-up backyard games at the ballard's.

bff

day 3: a favorite photograph of your best friend...

first things first:

this guy.

but at some point in my life (and even now) it could easily have been:

these lovely ladies....

or camie, pretty much my partner in crime from 4th grade on...

and yes, we were as cool as we looked.

this actually isn't my favorite photograph. my favorite photograph (which is currently MIA)would be the one of us huddled in towels on her back porch looking down trodden and freezing. why, you ask? because camie grew up in apollo beach and had a canal behind her house that connected to the tampa bay. we had the brilliant idea to blow up a large raft and paddle our way through the canal to the tampa bay, which was probably miles away. camie's mom pretty much gave us a wave and a smile saying "see you in 10!" she was right. i don't think we even made it past the 4th house down. oh well. we may not be great paddlers, but we were great dreamers.

or these crazy girls:

too many stories to even start. just think midnight, toilet paper, cow manure...

or this hilarious chick

we had way too good of a time working for a summer up in jackson hole, wy. we also had way too much time on our hands which resulted in many similar pictures to the first one shown. something tells me the fda would've frowned upon me sprawling my body across the counter where the cooks prepared the food and "borrowing" the chef's hats (to be returned immediately following the picture) for a better picture.

the bottom picture is of kristin and me taking 3 days off while in jh, grabbing a map and a big gulp and hitting the roads towards montana. we drove until we were tired, picked a spot, set up a tent, slept, and did it again the next day. we would find hikes and 7-elevens along the way and considered ourselves the 2 luckiest girls to be so spontaneous, living free and in one a the prettiest parts of the nation. awesome trip.

or this all-around-amazing girl:

"wait!" you say! kimmy has already been posted. well she's so amazing she's a double post. i love this picture because it reminds me just how good of a friend she is. kimmy had just delivered her 1st baby a couple of weeks before my graduation from Utah and she still came to the ceremony, dinner, and after-party. now knowing how i felt after having a baby, i am so grateful for her sacrifice. she has definitely been a constant in my life:)

and last but not least, this incredible lady:

this girl (joellen) could get me to move back to az in a heartbeat (and that is saying a lot). i have never a met a more talented, got-it-together, true-to-herself, generous gal before. she keeps me on my toes to always strive for better.

kind of seems like i'm tossing out bffs like their extra change and it also seems like i voluntarily took this post way longer than needs be. oh well. i thoroughly enjoyed this little stroll down memory lane.

i'm back

you didn't think i'd be back so soon, huh? neither did i. well here i am and here is today's post. hold your breath, or don't, 'cause it's an exciting one....

a picture of me!!!!!

celebrating my 28th b-day with mama b

and....

Description of how my day was (lame, but oh well):

-woke up at 6:15 with Annie (that's sleeping in for her)

-did inward cartwheels when i took Annie's temp. and it was down to 100.8* instead of a previous 102*

-did outward cartwheels to get her to eat her oatmeal

-helped mama b get ready for the big relief society dinner

-searched for a picture of me

-currently blogging while annie is chewing on a sock and going through the trash

unfortunately for you, i am blogging at 10 am and not 10 pm so you only get a small glimpse of my eventful day..

insane in the membrane

so kevin's cousin's wife has taken on a 30 day blog posting challenge, inspired by her friend, and has given that challenge out to others as well. i don't know the friend, nor was the challenge directed towards me, but for some reason i kind of feel like doing it. don't ask me why. i enjoy reading other people's postings, but its really not my thing. i mean, had there been some sort of cyber-offered guarantee that good luck would be mine for seven years, or my crush from 1st grade would finally contact me, or better yet, a threat telling me i would lose all of my fame, fortune, and hair i would definitely be all over this. alas, there is no pot of gold or baldness waiting for me, i'm doing this just because. so here it goes....

day 1: 15 facts about me

1. i eat a bowl of cereal before i go to bed every night

2. i shower in the dark

3. i would trade my left leg and eyelashes for my grandma bernhisel's homemade rolls (and throw in my pinky toe for a side of any of her desserts)

4. i'm 28, look like i'm 17, been married for 6 years, have one baby and a master's degree

5. i ran my first marathon at 19 and am hoping to do another in 2011

6. i dream of living in the mountains where it snows once for christmas morning then is done for the year, having a huge fluffy dog that doesn't shed or stink and that will lick my toes (will explain later), having a house full of chocolate-lipped, dirty-kneed, running-with-scissors-kids bouncing around wreaking havoc while outwardly i'm mildly chastising them but inwardly i'm smiling.

7. my favorite food is sushi closely followed by a medium-rare filet mignon covered with sauteed mushrooms.

8. i love wearing workout clothes

9. i make my bed about once a week

10. i never have my cell phone with me

11. i don't have a facebook account

12. i'm in love with my man and my little miss

13. i don't like country music. at all.

14. i'm an avid gator and duke fan, and can hold my own in sports conversations

15. i love reading about history