all grown up - ashley's senior prom

We leave in about two and a half weeks for Cape Cod to watch our gorgeous grown up niece Ashley graduate as valedictorian of her class.. we are so proud and SO anxious!

Last weekend she attended her senior prom with her sweet boyfriend and looked absolutely stunning in a peacock blue sparkly princess dress with an intricate up-do (done my my talented sister-in-law) and to make this look even cooler - she wore crystal encrusted converse low tops (ok maybe they aren't actually "converse" but they look like chuck taylors and paired with this dress... are TOTALLY Ashley!) love this girl! (young woman!)

we got a call from her proud papa as he was driving her and her date to the prom, he was so proud of this knockout - look how sweet this moment is (wish i could have been there to see it in person!)

the shoes! how fun
(and smart... remember all of those formal dances with 6 inch heels, coming home with blisters and swearing off heels forever - or at least until the next dance?)

the adorable couple. i love how his tie matches her dress.

the ladies. ashley and her bffs. all of their dresses look great together too - love the jewel tones. i don't think i ever looked this good in high school!

i am amazed that this big group got together for the big day... thats a lot of planning and work (imagine the text strings and FB messages it took to make this happen!)

Ashley - we are so proud of you, and so happy you had such a nice time at your prom! Remember that night always.

Love you!

Chicken Saute with Sugar Snaps and Asparagus

I'm still working on cooking my way through Kristine Kidd's book :) Not doing a very good job of documenting it...
I HAD to write about this one though - as it is so spectacular, it actually graces the cover of her book. Plus, spring is here and asparagus is in abundance, win-win!

Here is the link to the recipe online.

I followed the recipe pretty closely, it was easy quick and used simple ingredients. (I love this book!) The one thing that i did not have on hand was the sugar snap peas - i used green beans, because thats what i had - but i bet it would be more "special" with the sweetness and crunch of the fresh sugar snaps. Next time I will prepare to cook this, and buy the right ingredients. Even with a major substitution, the flavors were right on and got big props and has been categorized in the "make this again" category!

Down on the farm... Tye's 4th Birthday!

Liam's good friend Tye turned 4 yesterday and today was the BIG BIRTHDAY PARTY at Underwood Family Farms. Tye's Mommy's name is Henny... so, it was only fitting that all of us were corralled in the "Hen House"! This was a really FUN and perfect party - all of the kids had so much fun. Liam especially had a good time, and it was so cute because most of the kids go to school together at Cornerstone. Tye and most of his friends are in the "threes" class... and Liam is in the "twos" ... but there was one little boy from his class - and he knew a lot of them from after school care when they all play together.

He picked out his own outfit.. which was pretty fitting - he actually wanted to wear cowboy boots and a "Farmer shirt" when we told him we were spending the day at the farm! Smart cookie.

One of the first things we did was go on a wagon ride that was pulled by Clydesdale horses - it was pretty spectacular and took us all around the massive farm. This is Tye, the birthday boy and his daddy.
After the wagon ride, we all got some animal food to feed the animals on the farm... Liam fed the Peacock, Turkey, Emu, Alpacas, Rabbits, Goats, Bulls, Horses, Pigs... and many more.

He loved this wooden "choo choo" train!

Not as much as driving the full sized "John Deere" combine! This may have been the highlight of his day... he could drive, drive, drive and never get bored of it.

Tye had the most amazing cake... a two tiered farm cake decorated in fondant, complete with the animals - the cookie favors were pretty stinkin' cute too... sugar cookie farm animal cut outs and barns that said "Tye's Farm"... I die.

While we waited for some of that yummy cake, Liam and Daddy played "king of the hill" on the hay stack.

Cake Time! This boy has a sweet tooth, and apparently loves fondant!

Busy little farm hands sure wear themselves out quickly. This was taken about 4 seconds after we drove out of the parking lot!

Thank you for inviting us to your party Tye! We had a wonderful time! Happy Birthday Friend.

While we were away...

While Kurt and I were busy "skulking about" in London last month, Liam was home with Gramma and Grumpa having SO MUCH FUN! We are so thankful that they were able to take the time away and make the trip up from Oregon to stay with Liam and take care of the house and dogs for us so we could sneak away... I thought I would feel really sad leaving Liam for so long, but with the assurance he was being well cared for and loved... I was ok, and really able to enjoy being away. SO - THANK YOU Mom and Dad! This was the best gift ever!

Now.. on to what Lima Bean did while we were away...
In addition to playing "hooky" from school for a week... they kept this kid BUSY!

He was busy hammering away and fixing things like his "Grumpa"

He got to go see a LIVE performance of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" at church... and even got a couple of bites of a REAL Wonka "Scrumdidlyumcious" bar that Gramma brought for him :) he LOVED that... and I heard even started chanting "CANDY CANDY CANDY" at the end of the performance!

He got to be the KING OF THE HILL!

He crossed bridges w/ Gramma.

He got aquainted with his shadow... he has been really into "Peter Pan" lately, and asked Gramma if his shadow needed to be sown to his feet because he didn't want to lose it!

He climbed through tunnels.

He fed the ducks!

He shot some hoops with Grumpa - how cute is it that my dad brought out a step stool!!

They took long walks on the beach.

They did a little shopping at the do it center and Liam found a sweet spot!

They planted grass seeds in egg shells ...

So, that by Easter, we would have these lovely table decorations - they turned out AWESOME!

They planted some herbs for me :) Been using the chives and parsley a TON - they are getting so big already!