Marble Painting

Every couple days the teacher in me has to do a fun, new project with Ash! :)  She loved our marble painting the other day!  I love watching her work so hard on something, and she always makes plenty to give out to friends/family!  

Black-tie Gala

I went to support a friend of mine at the Arizona Epilipsy Foundation Fundraiser.  This was my first black-tie gala event ever and I was beyond excited! :)  My friend's daughter is 5 years old and she has suffered from sever epilepsy for the past 2+ years.  She has a rough road ahead of her with multiple brain surgieries and life long planning, but the family is beyond strong.  This was an amazing night of eye-opening information and positive hope for all the research being done on a daily basis to find a cure for epilepsy in adults and children.    I was so thankful to be a part of such a "moving" evening and I look foward to attending more events benefiting such amazing medical research.  

It was so much fun getting all dressed up! 

I attended the gala and Kevin's friend had his wedding this evening, so we both got dressed up and went our separate/friend supporting ways! :)

The gala had a mardi-gras vibe, and face painting was one of the many fundraising events! :)  I  also received a ton of tickets winning like crazy at the black jack tables!  Too bad, it wasn't real money! :)

Valentine's Day 2012

There is so much love in this home and Valentine's Day is always a great day of enjoying "fun" new gifts to play with!  Daddy always spoils his girls with flowers and Kev and I enjoyed a nice dinner a few nights later!

Basket full of goodies and carry-bag for Baby Stella

This girl LOVES flowers from her daddy!
I will never forget all the beautiful flowers my daddy gave me over the years, such special memories!

Valentine's gifts from Grandma!

Baby Stella in her new carry case!

She is oh' so proud!

Great-Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jim are the best!  They always send the cutest little gifts and she loves opening all the packages! :)  

Thanks again Mastny family, she loves all her fun gifts!  

Super excited, Aunt E and Uncle D spoiled her with princess/barbie presents too! :)  

My "mini-valentine" playing before bedtime!  Modeling her robe and my slippers!  :)

Carlsbad, California (2-7-12)

Warning: This is a very, very long post, with lots of pictures and video, but I didn't want to divide it up into too many posts!   So. . .enjoy!

We were anxiously excited for this vacation, because this was Ashley's first PLANE RIDE!  We had a great flight over, had great luck with our rental car, and had a phenomenal vacation!  We were super prepared and had no issues through security.  We took Ashley's stroller to get us through the airport easier and we put her in her carseat on the plane; we wanted her to feel super safe and comfy and she flew like a champ!  We had a very quick flight over to CA and an even smoother ride home, so we are so thankful for such a great experience and we are ready for many more flying adventures! :)

We felt so relaxed on this trip and really enjoyed every minute of our time in CA.  We flew in early enough the first day, picked up our rental car, and drove straight to the beach!  AshB couldn't wait to play in the sand and run through the water with her Daddy!  We got cleaned up after checking into hotel and then went and made a pizza with Uncle Brian at a friends Pizza place! :)

We took Ashley back for 2 days of fun at Legoland and she was so excited!  She remembered everything and couldn't wait to ride her favorite rides again!  She was super brave and even tried a few new things!  She was so excited to drive the race cars again. She was older and a little taller so she was able to keep the pedal of the car down, and she was making laps around the race track!  We were all so excited! :)

First Plane Ride

Waiting oh' so patiently to board.  An airport volunteer/security person gave her a squishy airplane toy as we were waiting in the security line.

Daddy surprised her with a fun new shirt for her adventure, and of course her toy plane is ORANGE!

Family picture on the plane :)

She politely ordered her own apple juice on our quick flight to San Diego

Helping Daddy secure her carseat in the rental car

She is the best little traveler; so patient and always a smile on her face! :)

Beach fun

First view of the beach and pure excitement in our car!

When she gets older, she may not be happy with me, for ever taking/posting some of these hilarious pictures! :)

She is in pure heaven, playing on the beach

One of my favorite pictures; they are my world!  

Pure joy 

The sand made really cool patterns, this was our favorite beach

Plane/Beach/Pizza Video

This is a longer video; but there was so much laughter and playing while we were at the beach, I wanted to catch and show those fun moments!   I could watch her run around and play at the beach all day, but the best part is her laughing with her daddy!  :)

Making her own pizza at the Partusch boys favorite pizza place!  

She adores her Uncle Brian and he was so good with her!

Light sauce, Uncle Brian!

Oh' yea, dump on that cheese! :)

It has been a busy day of traveling, beach fun, and pizza making, but she STILL has energy!
Cutie Pie! :)

Legoland (2days)

The hotel van drove us to Legoland, she felt so special to have a carseat in the van just for her!  

Pure excitement to be back at Legoland!

Driving Daddy in her zebra safari car 

She was so anxious to drive these cars again, and make it around the track!  

Oh' yea, she got her driving license! :)

Helicopter fun

Driving the boat

She is such a big kiddo and we ADORE her! :)

Legoland Video

Okay so this is a little long, but they are hilarious.  I laugh hysterically as the kiddos bump into each other; she has such a great time and is so proud of herself. They are hilarious to watch, but really show you her personality and how much fun she is!   It is a compilation of our two days at the park. Day 2 (blk and white outfit) is to show how much better/smoother her driving got after two days of practicing!

Other pictures from our vacation

Rockin' out in the car with her strawberries 

Daddy was digging a hole!   

It's gettin' deeper

Awww, my cuties! :) 

Can't visit San Diego area without our usual ride on the trolley to Gaslamp area for Spaghetti Factory!   

Playing with Daddy's phone while driving to the trolley station

Our "big girl"

Yea, we had fun, but it is always fun to get home! :)