Thursday, May 31, 2012

New Blog!!!!

So I finally made some decisions regarding the "out of picture space conundrum"! Please visit my new blog: http://royalryanfamily.blogspot.com

Friday, May 25, 2012

So apparently I'm out of picture space...

I tried to upload some pictures and videos for this post - but I was informed that I've now used 1023mb of the 1024mb allowed...so I guess I'm going to have to look for some alternative options....maybe a new blog???

Monday, May 21, 2012

A big lesson learned this weekend

I have struggled my whole life with issues about "control".  I have a very strong personality.  I like things done the way I think they should be.  I like doing things myself because, "then, I'll know they've been done just how I want them done".  I like having a plan, even if it is an unrealistic one.  I can know to the bottom of my heart that my list has so many things to get done on it that there is, very literally, not enough time in the day to get it done - but I still feel better because I have a list and "at least I won't forget anything I planned to do".  I think I've adequately described my tendencies toward complete insanity... especially in this department.

We've told several people about this "crazy plan" that we'd like to do if we can sell our house.  We were partially inspired by Dave Ramsey's ideas about fiscal stewardship.  I love his quote, "If you're friends don't think you're crazy, YOUR NOT DOING IT RIGHT!"  Some people have looked at us like we're crazy, but others have remarked that it is a brilliant plan.  We felt like we were following God's will by accepting this plan.  It really doesn't even feel like our plan, but His.  I wouldn't have thought..."Hey, let's pick something that's going to create more work for us than we already have".

We hadn't had a single showing on our house with this agent until we'd started making preparations towards this "crazy plan, then what almost seemed magically, we got a call for a showing.  This past weekend, we worked so hard getting ready for an open house.  We have sore muscles, sunburn and I even have a blister to prove how hard we worked in the backyard.  I am so pleased with our backyard.  It really is the backyard I've wanted for this house since we moved in.  We were able to put Ashlyn's little play house back there and all!  The inside was spic-and-span!  I left the house thinking, "I wouldn't mind keeping this house - I forget how much I like it when it's not this clean."  We had gone Saturday late afternoon to drive by several houses that I'd found that were in the price range we were looking.  The first one we looked at had a little promise, but it was really small - the second was a "no way, jose" kind of house.  The third was absolutely and positively perfect!  We looked at the others I'd collected information on and found a couple other "maybe's" - but we'd already found "the one".

Fast forward to Sunday at 4 o'clock.  I texted the real estate agent wondering how many people showed up at the open house.  I mean I didn't expect the open house to sell the place - but I thought we might have had some curious people come out.  Nope....she texted back, "I hate to say it, but not a soul came."  I just didn't understand.  The plan was working out.  We are supposed to be doing the plan, right???  I reflected back on telling David while we were working in the back yard that I wasn't doing the work for whoever bought the house, I was doing it for us... so that we could actually use our backyard for however long we were intended to live in this house.  (I had done an extra project that wasn't necessary and planted some plants underneath our bedroom window that probably won't really even look great until next year (assuming the dogs don't dig them up).  That project is what gave me the blister.  I realized that I really did mean it.  I accepted that obviously we had misread God's intentions and we should probably just refinance and stay in our current home for a while longer.  I mentally gave up trying to sell our house.

Monday morning... 9:30am:  The real estate office just called and someone wants to look at the house between 10 and 12.  Seriously....they couldn't have come to the open house - I had to take my lunch break at 9:30 in the morning to go set up the house for someone to look at.  Even though I've mentally given up on selling this house, I just don't want someone to walk in on my un-kept house (it really is still perfectly clean, except for breakfast dishes and hair accessories and towels from getting ready).

Somewhere between 9:30 and 10:00 this morning I realized that although I say outwardly "I trust God to provide the best possibilities for us in life, even if I don't know what that is..." that in my heart what I've been saying to God - "I trust you because I've figured out your plan and I like it.  It seems like a plan I can live with.  I have enough strength to move forward with your plan God."  I realized that I felt comfortable and excited about this plan, because I felt "in control" because "I know God's plan".  Today I learned that I don't know God's plan and that's kind of scary for me.  What if part of His plan is that He's not going to tell me the plan.  What if the plan is that I just have to blindly trust that the long run is going to work out the way He wants it to, even if it's not the way I want it to.  What if the plan is that I have to learn to concede to His control and ask Him what to do next each and every step of the way.  I'm learning that it's not about my strength or what I do to work toward the plan I think God is weaving.  My strength is really of so little importance to Him.  He doesn't even take it into consideration when he decides on the plan for our life.  It's not even the slightest factor for Him.  He knows He has enough strength to go around.  We'll continue to make preparations to sell or refinance, but I feel like my heart is different now.  I don't know how this will turn out, and I'm learning to be OK with that!!!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Mother's Day 2012

My Mother's Day started at 9:30 on Saturday.  My sweet husband took me for dinner and a movie.  We saw "The Avengers"!  Great movie!!!  Ashlyn was already asleep and my sweet step-sister stayed home to babysit.  I ate popcorn and drank coke (neither are diet friendly)!  We woke up and headed out for church on Sunday.  Ashlyn had "picked out a present for Mommy" at Panoply for my Mother's Day present.  A gorgeous handmade silver and pearl necklace. :)  Mommy loves it!  A couple that we are friends with in town finally came to visit at First Wesleyan!  I was so excited to get to see them there!!!  After church David, Ashlyn, Lindsey and I went to lunch with Teresa, Leslie, Andrew and Lurie at Baumhowers.  We jokingly call Teresa "David's Other Mother" - so it was fitting and lots of fun to get to have lunch with them!  When we got home, I got to do one of my favorite things in the whole wide world....take a nap with my hubby!!!  Ashlyn was napping, so we did too and it was GLORIOUS!!!  After naptime, we headed over to David's Mom's house where he cooked us dinner (including a chocolate mousse dessert!)!!!  I love my hunny!!!!  We came home and plugged in the Insanity Fit Test.  We both did GREAT and we were really proud of our progress!
Last year was my first Mother's Day celebration.  I'd only been a mom for a few short months.  Ashlyn and I have both grown so much in just one year.  Being a Mom is a very special job.  We work hard and sacrifice for these little people that we adore so much.  Ashlyn can frustrate me, entertain me and melt my heart all almost simultaneously.  I am so thankful that God allowed me to be Ashlyn's Mommy.  It is a huge privilege and I pray constantly that I will be the Mommy that she needs me to be.
Being a Mom has given me a glimpse into the world of my own Mom.  I am truly thankful to my mom for all the sacrifices she made for me and all the lessons she tried so earnestly to teach me as I grew.  She is a very special lady!  We may be separated by distance, but she's never far from my thoughts.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Carpe Diem

This weekend we had a ton of activities!  In one weekend, heck, in each day of the weekend, I've been all over the charts emotionally.  Friday evening we attended the visitation service for Jennifer Harper.  The loss became more even more real to me that day.  We kept it light in the long line to express our condolences to her family.  She was one very loved woman.  My heart was broken to see her husband, mom, dad and brother and finally her little girl.  We are truly blessed to wake up each morning to those we love. 

We ran into a couple from our church on our way outside and got to talking so we all decided to go out to dinner.  I really enjoyed getting to know them better!  It's hard to get to know someone when you only have a few minutes in passing while we're rushing to a class or service at church.

We tried to sleep late on Saturday - but with an almost two year old at home - you'd guess right if you guessed she was up at the same old 6:30am!  Ashlyn had been invited to her teacher's son's birthday party.  Her son is also one of Ashlyn's classmates.  He turned a big old 1 year old!!!  Ashlyn calls him her "baby".  Her teacher says she dotes over her all day long, making sure he has a toy or his paci or his share of snack.  She does not go around kissing just anybody - but she loves her "baby"! 

After the party we went home to change clothes and Lindsey agreed to watch Ashlyn so we could attend Jennifer's funeral.  Our pastor at First Wesleyan officiated at the funeral.  The family allowed him to share selections from letters that Jennifer had written each to her husband and to her daughter.  I was strong until then.  She had written the letters over a year and a half ago.  She didn't know that she would pass suddenly, but she truly understood that she could...that any of us could.  She not only understood, but acted on the precedent that we are not promised the next second here on this earth.  More so, she understood that our lives are not our own.  We've been bought at a price and we belong to the Most High God.  He has a purpose for us and we should be trying to live out that purpose each day.  After the funeral, I had a lot of time to contemplate my every day life.  If today was my last, what would the story they told at my funeral be like.  Now I'm not trying to be morbid - I don't think I'll be dying any time soon, but the reality is...I could...we all could.  As a young person, it's easy for me to procrastinate in beginning to work towards a goal I have or a purpose I feel the Lord has called me for but yet again, and in a very real way, the Lord has reminded me that we should Seize the Day!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Today has been hard.

Today has been a hard one.  I'd like to complain about how hard my day at work was or complain because Ashlyn has been so very fussy for the last two days, but I'm just so very grateful for my life that I don't see a purpose in those complaints.  I had a serious perspective check today.  A friend from church went to be with Jesus today. I didn't know Jennifer as well as I wanted to.  In fact, just a couple weeks ago, we commented on how fun it would be to get our little girls together for a play date at the park and get to chat.  David and I take care of her little 2 1/2 year old girl on Wednesday nights at church.  I'm sad because I won't get to know her, but I'm mostly sad because I know how much her family and friends loved her.  She will be greatly missed.  She made an impact on us.  She was unique and proud of it.  I am praying for her family to feel peace and comfort in knowing that they will see her again in eternity.  I pray that they will not feel the loneliness that can come with losing a loved one, but that they will feel God's love embrace them.  My heart is heavy for the loss, but I am rejoicing that Jennifer is in no more pain and is with the Savior she loved so dearly.  May you rest in peace Jennifer Kemp Harper.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Panoply 2012

This past weekend Huntsville, AL hosted the 2012 Panoply festival.  I wondered what "Panoply" meant...so I looked it up - "a wide-ranging and impressive array or display" is one of the definitions provided by Dictionary.com.  It was definitely that...I kept describing it "Like Kentuck - only bigger and a lot better..."  LOL!  David and their crew headed to Huntsville on Thursday to set up and get ready to sell some yummy food at the festival.  One of the employees told me that the inspector described their set-up as "the coolest and the cleanest".  Definitely a compliment in their line of business!  Ashlyn and I headed up Saturday to see David and check out the festival.

 Ready to open!

 Now tell me these Turkey legs don't look amazing!!!!  You can't tell in this picture, but they are huge!!! and they taste as good as they look, I promise!!!

Panoply recognizes that cooking is an art....Southern Dining won Best Entree for their Fried Gumbo!!!  So proud of them!  This 'plaque' is actually an original piece of art with the description of the award written on the back...that SDR drilled holes into so they could display their award...poor artist....it really is a pretty painting, but no one will ever see it. LOL!

My cousin Becky and her husband stopped by the tent, but I missed them. :-(  We were back at the hotel while Ashlyn napped.  She did great for the whole weekend, but being out in the heat and walking around and playing with everyone really drained her energy reserves!  She took two very long naps on Saturday and still fell fast asleep when I put her to bed that night!  I wish I'd been able to see my family while we were in town and it would be cool if we lived closer and could be more involved with them, but I just have to appreciate the times I DO get to see them more!

Friday, April 27, 2012

Today

Today, April 27th, marks the one year anniversary of a tragedy that struck the community of which I'm a part.  We didn't experience any damage to our home.  We were only out of power for about a half a day.  David's businesses experienced loss, but it was minor in comparison to those around us.  I still get teary eyed when I think about that day and the days following.  I've never seen such widespread destruction with my own eyes.  My heart still fills with pride in my community for the way we banded together.  Some got out in the trenches and literally dug people out of their own homes, some provided food and water, some provided shelter, some provided a hand to hold and a shoulder to cry on, some stayed home to care for their children so that their significant others could help and MANY provided the thing we needed the most - PRAYER!  There are so many Facebook statuses and tweets today about "Remembering".  I've even seen a couple comments about not wanting to keep replaying the horror over and over again - about just moving forward.  I choose today to remember and honor the lives lost in that tragedy.  Most of all, I'm choosing to remember the courage, perseverance, faith and triumph that I've seen as a result of this tragedy.  I've watched people find a strength within them that they didn't know was possible.  I watched people choose generosity in a world of greed.  I watched people put others before themselves.  I saw the Church get out into the community and minister to a world of hurting people.  I will never forget watching the big black cloud race across the sky and the way my heart felt when I realized what that big black cloud had done, but I will also remember the love that I saw in people's hearts as they searched their homes for things they could donate and gave countless hours of their time to help those they knew were hurting.  Instead of remembering the tragedy - I choose to remember the triumph.

Psalm 46:1-3
"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though it's waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging."

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Baptism

This past Sunday, David made a major statement of faith...he was Baptized!  I can't say how proud I am of him!  We have both grown so much in our faith now that we've been led to our church home.  We wandered aimlessly and without spiritual direction for so long.  We've both been Christians for many, many years, but lacked the guidance, accountability and encouragement that comes with fellowship with believers.  David and I have both commented on the sense of peace and clarity that has come with our conscious daily choices to trust God to lead our lives.  We still worry and yell at each other and spend money unwisely and say an occasional bad word sometimes.  As Matt Pitt says, "We aren't perfect, Just Forgiven!"  When someone is baptized at our church, they walk into the baptismal with a "sponsor".  I love our pastor's explanation that this person is a representation of the fact that we do not have to walk our spiritual journey alone, but we have our brothers and sisters of the faith who are there to encourage us and help guide us along the way.  Of course- that is paraphrased.  I have to mention that we did have some giggles in the congregation when it came time to "dunk" David.  David is 6'5"...our pastor is not...there was a very short delay when they were doing a little dance trying to figure out the dynamics of just how exactly they were going to get David underwater and then back up.  He took it in stride and we all hooped and hollered in celebration when they were done!  David has embraced his role as the spiritual head of our family and I can't say enough how very blessed I am that God chose him for me.


Baptism, April 22nd 2012 from FirstWesleyanChurch on Vimeo.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Wow...what a weekend...

I'm still recovering from quite a wild weekend...Our Friday night started with a trip to CiCi's Pizza.  This was Ashlyn's first trip and I'd like to say it went great...but it really only went OK. Part of the problem is that she plays harder and has a shorter nap at school than at home - so we do really good on the weekends, but after school activities are almost not worth it.  More time is spent in meltdown than having a good time.  The good part about this is that I'm very encouraged to go home and cook dinner as opposed to having dinner out.  We've never really had trouble with Ashlyn in restaurants until recently.  She has decided she doesn't like to sit down and eat.  She wants to eat standing up....this is a battle I'm just not ready to handle.  She has become a very picky eater and I just want her to eat something...so we've been eating in whatever chair she wants to and sometimes she's standing up.  I'm holding out faith that she'll grow out of this - just like the other food/dinnertime related issues we've had along the way.
Friday evening was spent cleaning the house top to bottom since someone requested a real showing of the house.  I'm trying to be realistic and not get excited.  I know it is pessimistic of me but I get to being a real grumpuss when we're cleaning the house for a showing.  I start thinking the people looking at the house probably haven't even sold theirs...so I try to be positive and clean for my family.  We like living in a clean house and when we show the house - David and I really give it a good scrub.  I was so tired by bedtime Friday that I told David if he would clean the floors in the house that I would get up early and mow the lawn.  So....Saturday morning before Ashlyn even got up, I was up and at 'em in the yard...by the time I was done Ashlyn was up and David was getting ready to leave to work at the Sorority House for the A-day game - so Ashlyn came outside and played while I weeded areas in the backyard.  She and dogs actually played really well together which was a surprise!  Maybe we can get a swing set for the backyard after all...
I stress out so bad when we get ready for a showing - David says I try to do too much to get the house ready - but it's just my nature to want everything to be perfect.  I finally decided I had done all I could so Ashlyn and I headed to the McDonald's down the street for breakfast since it was still a couple hours until the showing.  She ran around the play place.  She can't really play in it yet since she's still a little small for it.  She climbs up a few stairs and looks up the slide and then runs around in circles...but she thinks it's fun.  We finished breakfast and headed back to the house for the funnest part about showing our house -you guessed it - loading up three dogs.  I can't begin to describe the hilarity of me and Ashlyn and our three dogs crammed into my little Escape driving around town for an hour and 15 minutes.  Buddy was in the back seat with Ashlyn and he couldn't decide which side he wanted to sit on so he would get down on the floor board and walk from one side to the other and it would make Ashlyn mad so she would kick at him until he moved.  I preferred when he sat behind the passenger seat because when he sat behind me he panted and drooled all over my shoulder.  Holly and Bryant both refused the sit in the back so they both sat in the front seat.  Holly was literally leaning on top of Bryant - but he wasn't going to budge to the backseat - and they were happy so I didn't fight it.  I have a layer of dog hair in my car that seems an inch thick from this outing.  No one peed - so I can handle the dog hair.  I almost had a panic attack getting them back out of the car though...Bryant and Buddy were doing their whole "I'm the boss" growling with each other and somehow my wedding band got hooked into Buddy's collar and I couldn't get it off and I just kept envisioning them ripping my finger off if they went at it the way they've been known to do.  Thankfully, Jesus had sent a Guardian Angel to protect me and kept the dogs from fighting...so I still have my finger intact.
After Ashlyn and I dropped the dogs off - we headed up to Birmingham for the afternoon to see my Dad and Step mom and Lindsey.  We had a fantastic time visiting and Ashlyn loves playing with MiMi, Papaw and especially Aunt Lindsey!!!
Sunday morning we got up and actually made it to Sunday School (almost on time).  We went to Taco Casa for lunch and then home.  We decided to take a nap while Ashlyn did because Saturday had taken it's toll.  We were planning to go to an open house - but that wasn't in the stars for us - because we spent the rest of the day taking care of each other as we shared one nasty stomach bug!  Thankfully Ashlyn didn't get it...I don't know how...but I'm so glad she didn't get it!!!  I don't know how single parents do it when their sick..but my hat's off to them.  I couldn't survive without David's help!!!  There you have it - a weekend in the life of The Ryan's - jam packed and full of adventure.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Insanity!!!

Bet you thought this post was going to be about how crazy our lives are with our little bundle of joy!!!  Nope....this post is about how crazy we are to have ordered the Insanity workout last night.  I've been doing pretty good going to the gym and trying to make healthy eating choices....but I want faster results.  This program lasts for 60 days.  I can do 60 days, right?!?!  This was actually David's idea - so he's going to do this with me.  A while back...like a pretty long while back...he had a semi-hot wife and I think he's ready for her to come back.    I am too!!!!:o)


I have 3-5 business days to get prepared!  We've got to have a schedule or adding yet another thing (that takes 40 minutes a day-and I'm sure a solid 20 minutes to recover) to our already jam packed days is just not going to work...and I want this to work.  This program will only work if we are committed and consistent.  I am buzzing with nervous energy about this.  I wish I could say that I'm brave enough to post a before picture, but I'm just not.  We are going to take before and after pictures and when I make it to the after, maybe I'll be more brave.  Wish us luck...we're going to need it!!!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter 2012

We packed a lot into Easter weekend this year!  We began our celebration on Saturday by participating and volunteering at our church's community outreach called Easterfest.  We had games, inflatables, food and over 14,000 Easter eggs!!!  We took Ashlyn to GrandMary's house early in the morning so we could help prepare something like 3,000 hot dogs and help set up the games and stuff.  Grandmary brought Ashlyn a little later and we had such fun "hunting" for Easter eggs!  The park is one flat grassy surface so you don't have to hunt too hard! :-)


We discovered that Ashlyn thinks that balloons are so much fun!  She is so hilarious to watch!


We went to David's business partner's house for dinner on Saturday evening.  Ashlyn and their son played very well together!  We had a great time visiting with them and some of the people that work for the company! 

Sunday morning we woke up early to check out what the Easter Bunny had left for us...this is a very good example of my "not a morning person" child...


We went to a church in Bessemer for Easter church service with GrandMary and Papa Chuck because Ashlyn's twin cousins, Lyla and Aubrie, were being dedicated that morning.

After church, we headed north to my Dad's house to hang out with Daddy, Jacque, Lindsey, and my sister and her family!  We hid 113 Easter eggs and they found every last one of them!  We ate a delicious lunch and had yummy desserts!  Ashlyn got pretty good at this Easter egg hunting thing this year!








We finished the day off by heading a little further up north to visit my Dad's side of the family. :-)  We went to Becky and Todd's house and got to visit for a little while.  We got to see my Aunts and Uncles and cousins, including my cousin from England and her family who are in the states for a visit.  I love getting to visit with family so much!  I wish we were closer and could see everyone much more often!!!!  We had a great weekend!

On another note...we had a random showing of the house on Saturday!  Our elderly neighbor had a friend visiting and rang the doorbell to see if their friend could come look at the house....we begged for 30 minutes to clean up and we welcomed them into our home.  The lady had another friend (who lives on the street behind ours) that came with her too and she said that they had looked at a couple others in the neighborhood and that ours looked the best kept up.  Wasn't that nice of her to say!! :-)  Maybe she'll like it...either way...it forced us to clean up a little. LOL!

Friday, April 6, 2012

The dinner a stranger paid for...

God has been teaching me so much about gratefulness and blessings lately.  I mean... I've been close to overwhelmed each day by at least one thing that God points out specifically that He has blessed me with.  Our life is nowhere near what some would consider perfect...even what I might consider perfect, but God has provided all we need for right now and I am filled with thankfulness for His grace and mercy.

Last night we went out to dinner at the Mexican restaurant down the street from our house.  We were eating our chips and chatting, while taking turns wrangling our wiggly, little, one year old, when the man who had been sitting alone in the booth behind me finished and stood to walk to the cashier.  He quickly laid a $20 bill on our table and said, "Use this to help pay for dinner and Happy Easter."  I barely had time to say, "Thank You." before he had walked off...I never even saw his face.  He was a gruff looking, construction worker type.  I watched him walk out through the parking lot and we were kind of blown away.  We've never had a stranger do something like that for us before.  We finished our dinner (left the $20 for our server as a tip) - but when the cashier rang us up she stated, "That will be $20.78.", the thought popped into my head that, "He paid the whole price."  A stranger bought us dinner.  But somehow that reminded me that Someone I've never met in the physical sense...Someone I've never actually seen the face of - paid the whole price for all the wrong that I've ever done.  Did the stranger know he would have a profound effect on someone because he, for reasons I will never know, laid a $20 bill on my table?  I doubt it...but in turn we were able to bless the server with the tip...and I saw kindness in the world...I saw Jesus through that man.  I was confronted with the question for myself- how many times have I not followed the tug to do a small kindness, thinking, "Well, it won't make much difference anyway..." - when someone could have seen Jesus through that action???

"Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours.  Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now."  Saint Teresa of Avila

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Easter Party at School

Ashlyn's school had their Easter party today since they are closed tomorrow.  Ashlyn was a pretty good Easter egg hunter!  They had all sorts of goodies during lunch time after the egg hunt too!






Wednesday, April 4, 2012

My Big Girl!

This is one of Ashlyn's all-time favorite activities!!!  She LOVES to brush her teeth!  She actually does a relatively decent job at it too!  She's growing up so fast!  P.S. That's her potty chair she is standing on and still refusing to use...she thinks it makes a great stool though!



Tuesday, April 3, 2012

New and Improved

Well, maybe it's not new, but here's the pictures of our improved house FOR SALE!!! I know someone wants to buy our house...I'm not sure when, but surely one day someone will want to see our house...right???


















And the biggest improvement....THE BACKYARD!!!



Friday, March 30, 2012

East Coast Adventure

David needed to take a quick trip to Orland Beach, Florida (near Daytona Beach) to pick up a piece of equipment that they had ordered....and he was so sweet to invite me and Ashlyn to tag along!  We packed so much into those short couple days!!!

 Ashlyn looking out over the Atlantic Ocean for the first time ever!
 Ashlyn not being so very happy with her first view of the Atlantic Ocean - she clung to David like her very life depended on it...it looks like it, but she wasn't actually crying in this picture, she was squinting from the sun.  I tried to put her sunglasses on her multiple times, but just like hats, she wants absolutely nothing to do with them!
 East Coast Weekend Getaway 2012 Family Picture
 She eventually warmed up to the sand - but she never warmed up to the ocean.
 It was a little rainy on Saturday afternoon, so we drove into Orlando to visit Walt Disney World!
 We are still saving the first trip inside the real Disney World until Ashlyn is a little older - but in the mean time, we visited Downtown Disney!


 Yes...Ashlyn did insist on pushing her own stroller for almost half the time we were there.  She would get so mad when we are steering the stroller because she thought we were about to make her stop pushing it so we compromised and David pulled it to steer and I walked behind to make sure Ashlyn didn't get lost since she can't actually see over the top of the stroller.
 This was as close as we got to Mickey ears on her...she really hates hats - even the cute mickey ears hats. :o(
 Daddy helping Ashlyn color while we waiting for our lunch Sunday.
 The new trick David taught Ashlyn-he stretches and makes the stretching sound and Ashlyn imitates him.  So funny!  She loves to copy Daddy!
 No footprints pictures this time - so I took a picture of David's shoes - he stuck Ashlyn's shoes inside his for safekeeping. :-)

We finally got her playing in the sand!!!  Her hand is reared back because she is about to chunk a big handful of sand!  We may regret teaching her that-but she sure did have fun.  One step, pick up handful of sand, second step, throw the sand, third step, pick up handful of sand, fourth step, throw the sand - we did that for a long time...then sadly...it was time to go back home.  Hopefully we'll get to have another adventure very soon!