Mr. & Mrs. Minton. . .

Congratulations Kora and Nick! Here are just a few fun shots I got (and Janice helped) of the entire event. Marisa has lots more so hopefully she got some of the "details" because it was the most festive wedding I've ever been to. The flowers (which I did :)) were brightly colored dahlias, there were bright colored paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling and even a Mariachi band that played while we walked down the aisle--it was perfect. . .a great reflection of the fun personalities of Nick and Kora.Kora had her 3 sisters, Amy-her sister-in-law, Sophia-her niece and Malia, her best friend, standing by her side.The proud father about to give his little girl away.An amazing view of the water--isn't Olympia beautiful? (I'm a little partial, what can I say?) :)Kora and Nick welcoming and thanking everyone for being there. I wanted to get a little shot of some of the decorations. The fireplace mantel had wedding pictures of family members--it looked really neat.Malia gave a great speech for her best friend. I definitely got teary eyed!There were a TON of children at this wedding and you know how they love to dance! It was so fun watching them bust a move. I know they all had to have zonked as soon as they got in the car after releasing all that energy!The first dance. . .The Father-Daughter dance. . .My twinners and his cute little boy. . .My little sis and her hub--I LOVE this picture of them. Richie played waiter for us for a bit which was nice-we never had to go to the bar, he just kept bringing trays of drinks over to us--thanks Rich. :)The two little ones zonked literally on the dance floor near the speakers. Abs fell asleep in her carseat and we were trying to figure out what to do with Griff. I held him and next thing I know, he's zonked on my shoulder so we got his car seat and snugged him in under Abs. I kept saying I was the "Baby Whisperer" :) I think they were both just really tired. It was awesome though because we all got to stay at the wedding til about 11:30--much later than I thought I was going to be. Thanks little ones for being so perfect. Another fun wedding. Wow, my family has grown and with each new addition I love it even more. Can't wait to see the professional pictures and Marisa's since she is much better at this than I am. Cheers to my sis (sig other) and my new brother in law--so excited to have you as part of our fam. Love you guys.

The Rehearsal Dinner

The wedding weekend is over. . .on my way home from Oly on Sunday I got a little teary eyed. I think I was tired but also overwhelmed with emotion as another Hussey gets married off and yet another wonderful celebration came to an end. The weekend started with a BBQ at the Lighthouse Bungalow right on the water--it was absolutely beautiful and the food was delicious--thanks Terry and Claudia for hosting such a special event. They even hired their dance instructor to come and teach us some moves!
Here's Kora and Nick headed down the drive to the party--their last night as single people!!Grammy and Grampy with Abigail and Griffin. I wish Sophia was in this picture as well because it is too cute. I have some great looking parents. Notice my Mom's necklace--my Dad had it sitting in the car on their way to rehearsal and he said he thought she needed it for the wedding. . .months earlier my Mom was eyeing it and didn't realize my Dad was paying attention. . .no wonder they'll be celebrating 40 years soon. WowInstead of getting in that fabulous picture with her Grammy and Grampy Miss Sophia was being a little sass-a-fratz acting like she didn't want anyone to talk to her or take her picture. hmmn, the many moods of a 4 year old.The Hussey gals--gosh, we're a good lookin bunch! Check out Abby's sturdy legs. hee heeThe "Little Women" Love my sissy's.Uh, this is the amazing view from the bungalow--we were literally ON the water. It was a gorgeous sunset that night too which made it even better.As I mentioned earlier--we got dance instructions. Here's Joe and Janice cuttin a rug. Joe is really getting into it. Love it.This could be a postcard for the "Lighthouse Bungalow" Love the silhouette of the brother and sister chatting.It got chilly at the end of the night so Abs got cozy in her stroller with her blankie--she loves that thing. She was so great the entire weekend.Ahh, the end of the night (well end of the night for me) I'm sure these guys kept the party going for much longer. Kora and Nick had to take a "Spoon Shot" from his friend and groomsman who owns a bar and that is the popular thing to do there. People come from all over to take the Spoon shot. Glad none of my friends own bars--what would I have done if someone tried forcing me to take a shot at my rehearsal dinner?? :) Our secret would have been spilled! hee hee

Bird and family

Bird and fam finally made it back to the Northwest for a trip to visit family and friends so Zach and I hosted a BBQ at our place to get everyone together. It was such a fun night. . .I only wish it could have lasted longer. Miss Avery came along but Reece opted to stay back with his cousins.Kelly and Avery towards the end of the night. . .Avery was gettin a little tired. She was so dang cute--she pretty much got out every toy of Abby's and wanted to watch every movie we had out for kids. We let her do whatever she wanted--she had to have been in heaven! :)Molly used to work with Bird so she and Mike stopped by as well!Annie, Joe, Jamie, Luke and Lorissa were also in attendance to say hello to the Smith Family. It was a perfect crowd and a wonderful night. I already miss Birdie.

Snoozer. . .

Abby usually wakes up between 6:30am and 7:30am but usually eats and goes back to bed for about an hour or so. . .today she woke up at 7:30am and seemed all happy and ready to get up for the day. . .even though I knew she was probably still really tired. Zach was still here so I brought her into our room to hang while he got ready for work and then moved her into the office while I got to work. I laid her against the body pillow I have on the floor and snuggled her with her blankie while watching channel 9 cartoons. She looked so cute and before too long. . .

. . .she was out! She fell asleep for about another 30 or 40 minutes right there on the ground--love it!

Lynch Creek Dahlia Farm

On Monday my mom, Amy, Sophia, Griffin, Kora, Abby and I all went to Lynch Creek Farm in Shelton to pick out flowers for Kora's wedding. It was a beautiful day and there were hundreds of different types of dahlias to choose from.
Here is a shot of Kora out in the DIRTY field with Andy who was a great help with everything. He knows his flowers!Oh, here's my sweet little dahlia chillin in the shade.Griffin Boy thinks this is where you turn the car on. He is such a cute little rugrat--total BOY!Here we are under the shade while Kora is out in the dirt and heat with Andy.Some of the chosen ones! Aren't they beautiful?!?! I love dahlias.So we'll pick up 300 stems on Friday and I'll be put to work as Kora's florist for the wedding. I've done Marisa's wedding, Leah's, mine and now Kora's. Everyone always thinks it is a stressful job but I really enjoy it. . .as long as I am by myself--I just turn on some music, get a glass of wine (well I couldn't for my wedding :)) and get in my flower zone. It's actually very fun!!

A weekend for Daddy

This weekend we didn't have any huge plans other than going to Picture Day for the Huskies. It was Dad's weekend for sure! On Saturday we went to Zeek's in Kirkland for lunch. . .I wanted to see water since it was so hot out but Zeek's didn't have AC so we ate and got back in our Tahoe--(oh yah, we temporarily have a Tahoe since someone ran into our beautiful blue bullet, the Jetta Sta-wag)--where we could enjoy the sunny weather in the comfort of our car. :) Look at my cute babies.And now look at my hub's arms--I love them. . . and I love him, he's so cute. :)We were able to visit Zach's Grandma and Dad on Sunday. It was really great talking with them since we don't see them very often. Here's Abs and Grandpa Hulett.And now the Husky Picture Day--waaaaaay too hot for pictures but we got a few. Abs and Trufant. . .we all love the Trufants! Tru, Tru, Tru-Fant! Personally, I like his older brother better. :)K, there is no way we were going to get in the Jake Locker line with the 90 degree weather so we got a shot with him in the background. . .works for me. Abs lookin so cute sportin a new Husky Football for lots of signatures. . .or just a few. Dang the heat and dang mom for wakin up late.Another shot of our beautiful baby.Abs and Dad. As I am taking this picture a guy behind me says "I can take a pic of all of you if you want" and I had to tell him "Oh, don't worry about it, I'm not a Husky" :) He asked where I went to school and I had to tell him that I was a Coug. If we lived closer to Pullman we would be doing Coug Picture Day as well.
A great weekend in Seattle.

Shopping w/ Auntie Kora

Abby and I met Kora at U Village the other day to help her shop for fun dresses. Kora got some amazing finds and these pics of Abs were just too cute--I had to post. I love her mouth and lips. It is much different shopping with a little one. Kora and I used to shop at Bell Square late when no one was there--can't do that now with Abby's schedule. . .she gets tired and cranky by 8pm for sure so we only got to hit up a few stores. Our next shopping trip will have to be sans Miss Abigail. :) She's a trooper though. . .uhh, my baby girl is so precious!

2 of my faves. . .

My twinner and by babe-2 of my favorite things. . .or should I say people? :) Look at their blue eyes.

9 months old

Abigail Kristine is 9 months old! I can't even believe she has been a part of this world now longer than she was in my tum. As I've said before--she just keeps getting cuter and cuter. Her personality is priceless. She is the happiest baby. . .everyone always asks "Does she ever cry?" It's so fun to take her places because people always come up and look at her and tell me how adorable she is and how beautiful her eyes and hair are. . .the thing I love most though is that when these people come up to her she totally puts on a show for them with smiles. She just hams it up.
Today she actually had her check up at the doctor's office. Everything went great. I was shocked to see that our amazon baby has slowed down on the growth chart quite a bit which is pretty normal especially since her mom and dad aren't real big people. Her stats:
Height: 28 in. 70% (she grew 1 inch in 3 months)
Weight: 18lbs. 12 oz. 55% (she's gained almost 2lbs in 3 months but went from 75th% to 55%)
Head: 18 1/4 in. 96% HUGE. . .full of smarts I'm sure. :)
She only had to get one shot in her big toe (notice the bandaid in the pic) to test her iron level. She didn't even cry!
Abby is finally eating baby food. . .a little. I keep introducing more and more things and she actually eats it instead of giving me a full on gag reflex w/ eyes squinting. Instead of opening her mouth real big in anticipation of the spoon though she sorta purses her lips with her tongue sticking out a bit. I need to capture it on video because it is really funny and cute. She is also a great sleeper going down between 8p and 9p, wakes for a quick feeding at 3:30a and then out again til about 7:30am where she'll eat a little and usually go back to sleep again for at least an hour. It's great. She naps 2 times a day at 11am and 3p for about an hour each so I really can't complain--she is practically perfect in every way. :) She rolls all over the house and I really think she is going to be crawling before we know it. She babbles and babbles, snuggles and loves bath time even more than before now that I introduced laying her back in the water--she is for sure a water baby which her Dad loves since he is a big time swimmer. Gosh, I love little Abigail more than I ever thought imaginable...like I said after she was first born--sometimes I just feel so happy that I could burst.

Kora's Bach Party

We celebrated Kora's bachelorette party a few weekends ago down in Olympia at the Olympia Mansion which overlooked the water. It was absolutely beautiful and we all had soo much fun. . .especially me. :) Grammy took Abby for the night so I got to really let loose so things got a little crazy--LOVED IT. We sorta had a Mexican theme since that is where Kora and Nick are honeymooning. We had Pacifico's, Margarita's, enchiladas and queso dip--YUM! My mom made penis cookies for us all which is hilarious all in itself. She wouldn't decorate them though so Marisa and Amy had to do that.
Here's the bride to be nibbling on lunch. Amy made her a cute veil to wear all day.Absolutely love this picture. This is the mansion--I just have to own this place and rent it out as a little B&B or something--us Hussey gals could throw some fabo parties here. :)Kora and some of her peeps--Wendy who she used to work with, Maren, Malia and Audrey who are all Chi O's. X and a horseshoe--Chi O!The little girls being silly--they used to make veils out of their sheer bathrobes (that matched their silky nightgowns) when they were little. Now they are trying to do a wedding pose.I can't believe we're less than a month away to Kora and Nick's big day. I can't wait--it is going to be such a fun celebration. Cheers Kora to the next few weeks--enjoy every second of this special time! Check out more Bach party photos at the link to your right.