My girls (and my honey too!)

Tinsley. Blakely. Sisters. My girls.

Oh how I love these two angels! They are the highlight of my days.

Blakely will be 8 months tomorrow. Getting too big and too fast! She skipped the army crawling and has been full on crawling for a couple of months now. She pulls herself up on things (including the brick fireplace- yikes!) She is such a joy. The happiest and easy going baby. She gives the widest open smiles. She sucks her thumb. She enjoys watching her sister play. She loves to be held (only by those she knows the best.) She says dada, mama, papa, baba, and a bunch of other stuff we don't understand. :) We are so blessed to have her in our family.

Tinsley is almost 28 months. She loves anything princess. She wears her princess Aurora dress or "Mickey Mouse dress" everyday over her clothes. I am not exaggerating... EVERYDAY! She loves to sit and look at her books and to be read to. She loves to be "fancy" like "Fancy Nancy." She is the best big sister and loves to hug and kiss Blakely. She can make Blakely laugh harder than anyone else can. She can spell her name and count to 14. She knows her ABC's and can point out all uppercase letters.... Okay, so maybe not ALL but close to it. :) She knows the first two articles of faith and loves to go to Nursery. She keeps us laughing with the funny things she says everyday. She is a full on girly girl and very sweet/gentle.

I also want to give a shout out to my husband.

He is a fun loving guy.

He often asks me, "What can I do to make your day easier for you?"

He still flirts with me.

He lets me put my cold feet on him to warm them up at night.

He'll spontaneously fold the laundry or do some other household chore for me.

When I ask him "Which shoes should I wear?" or "Should I wear my hair up or down?" He'll say, "They both look great but I think _____ looks best." Some women might not like that but I love it! He used to answer, "I don't know." or "They both look fine." It used to bother me so I told him to just say one way or the other. Sometimes I follow his opinion and sometimes I don't but I always appreciate an answer :)

He trusts me and I trust him.

He is a great dad.

He knows so much about the gospel. I love having gospel related conversations with him.

He's a hard worker.

He's easy going.

He calms me.

He ALWAYS has my back.

Again, I love my family!

Just take some time and live in the moment

The other night I was on the phone with my good friend Brynne. The kind of friend that whenever you get off the phone with you feel like being a better person. Throughout our conversation we talked about family, friends, jobs, our children, motherhood, the gospel, etc. Oh how I love those conversations! During the conversation I was reminded of a story that I shared with her and wanted to share here.

While I was visiting in Virginia last month I was staying at my brother and sister in law's house. Tinsley and I slept in the same room. I slept on the bed and she slept on a mat beside me. One day while I was there I really started thinking about living in the moment, spending more quality time with my girls, and making some fun memories. That same night around 11 I headed upstairs to our room to go to bed and brought an ice-cream treat with me (don't judge me! haha). When I opened the door and tried to quietly walk into the room, Tinsley woke up. Every time this happened while I was there I would whisper, "It's just me. You can go back to sleep." But this night I decided to take my own advice from earlier that day. I crawled into bed with her and said, "Hey, I've got an ice-cream treat. Wanna share?" Of course she said yes. We laid there on her little mat on the floor while passing the ice-cream back and forth. We talked about how yummy it was. Then we were quiet and kept sharing the ice-cream. Then Tinlsey said...

Tinsley: Hey mommy?

Me: Yes?

Tinsley: This is so much fun.

It melted my heart and made me realize how important it is to take time and sometimes just let go. It was nice to talk to my friend and share this story because I was reminded of that time which will always be one of my most favorite moments.

Back at it

I have been MIA but now I'm back. It has taken me so long to blog because every time I thought about doing it I would feel so overwhelmed with all the things I need to post about. That's why I'm not going to! :) I'm just going to sum it up real quick....

We were in Little Rock for the summer for work.

David had a great/successful summer.

Went to Virginia for about a month.

A week at the beach with my family- so much fun!

Tinsley turned two (still blowing my mind!)

Blakely is rolling all over the place and trying to crawl... WHAT?!

We moved to Colorado.

I really like it here.

My parents have been here for the week visiting :)

I love my husband.

I love my girls.

I love my life.

My girls

Missing good friends

This was part of mine and Tinsley's pillow talk tonight....

Tinsley: Knock Haw-yee door. Knock Ay-cub door.

Me: Aww, you want to go knock on Holly and Jacob's door?

Tinsley: Yeah. Big hug Ay-cub.

Break my heart!! She misses her friend's in Buena Vista just like I do...

Jacob and Holly

My girls

Big girl bed

Tinsley has left her crib and is now in a "big girl bed." I was worried she was going to have a hard time getting used to it but I'm the one having the hard time! After we first put her in it I went to go check on her and found myself wanting to cry as I looked down at my little girl sleeping in a bed. She is getting too big!!

Blakely Ashton Borland

Introducing the newest member of our family...

Blakely Ashton Borland

April 22, 2010 (Born on her daddy's birthday)

10 lbs. 2 oz!!!!!!!!

22 inches long

My friend Mandi came by the house and took these pictures of Blakely when she was a week old.... I love them!!!! Thank you so much Mandi!

While Tinsley and I were waiting in line to check out at the grocery store she found a play phone she wanted. She had been so good so I got it for her. She's been playing with it all afternoon. She's been walking around with it up to her ear- just chatting away. When it was time for a nap I let her bring it with her. I looked on the monitor a few minutes ago to find her asleep with her elephant in one hand and the other hand is holding the phone up to her ear. What a funny little girl :)

Let it snow

Last week I woke up to big beautiful flakes falling from the sky. I love the snow! I woke up my hubby to tell him. He was just as excited as I was- oh how I love him :) I couldn't wait to show Tinsley. Other than the few seconds we took her out to let her catch some flakes, we spent most of the morning looking out of the window and making dozens of sugar cookies. It started covering the ground but not enough to take her sledding down the small hill by our home- dang it. Oh well, maybe next time :)

Sign language and Santa

I've been teaching Tinsley sign language. She knows quite a bit and it has really helped. She's even been signing in sentences lately. For example, she'll say "Mommy" and then sign the words "please drink juice" It's pretty cute :)

We recently took Tinsley to meet Santa. As soon as it was our turn I tried to hand her to him. I knew she wouldn't go for it but I thought I'd give it a try. She started crying immediately so I took her back and sat her on my lap.

When our turn was over I asked her, "Tinsley did you see Santa?"

She nodded her head.

"Wow! You did see Santa?"

She nods again

"That's so cool! Do you like Santa?"

More nodding.

I then asked her, "Do you want to go sit with Santa again?"

She immediately put her hands in the air and did the "all done" sign.

David and I had a good laugh :)

See how thrilled she was to meet him? HA!

I love this picture of her sweet little face after she left Santa and was safe in the arms of the one man she trusts :)

Baby number 2 is......

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Keep going..................

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A GIRL!!!!!!!

Even though I really thought that the little angel inside of me was going to be a boy I am so very thrilled to announce we are having another little girl! Even David (who is still going to be out numbered) is very excited. :)

Whooohoooo!!

Chicken Black Bean Enchilada Casserole

This is a super yummy recipe my friend Nicole gave me. I fell in love with it the very first time I made it :) We are having it for dinner tonight and I can't wait! Thought I would share it with you...

Chicken Black Bean Enchilada Casserole

3 c. cooked/cubed chicken
2 15 oz. cans black beans (drained)
1 7-oz. can diced green chilies
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 c. chicken broth
1 tsp. chopped garlic
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 Tbsp. chili powder
3 T. cilantro
1 chopped onion
1 lb. grated cheddar cheese
10 corn tortillas cut into ¼ s (white corn)

Set aside ½ c. beans. Combine meat, rest of beans, onions, chilis, soup, ¾ c. broth, garlic and spices. Layer 10 tortilla halves in 9x13 pan that has ¼ cup broth on the bottom. Cover with ½ bean mixture. Sprinkle with half of cheese. Repeat second layer and sprinkle with remaining ½ c. beans. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

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Today Tinsley and I spent some time at the park. We hadn't been there too long when a man came up to me and asked if I had seen his pitbull that had just escaped. After I kindly replied that I hadn't I scooped Tinsley up and 2.5 seconds later we were safe in the car. (I've heard too many scary stories about those dogs) Anyways, our trip to the park was cut short but at least I got a cute photo of my BFF :)

Halloween

Little Red Riding Hood