Year in Review

I can't believe this year went by sooo fast!

I'm linking with the lovely Brooke in doing a yearly review ;)

January

We went to Disneyland for Rory's first time

and she met Aurora.

Life = complete!

February

We celebrated Valentine's Day and I went to my first blogger meetup.

March

 

My brother got married! We got our pictures taken by Chrissy.

April

I thought I was pregnant again.

I started Smashbooking. 

(I really need to get back into it, 

need to get the third bedroom situated first)

Rory walked!

May

We took Rory swimming for the second time,

Haley graduated,

and we went to South Carolina for a weekend ;)

June

Rory turned 1!

We threw her a Blue's Clues party,

Andrew turned 24.

July

Andrew got a new job,

and we had an intruder break into our apartment.

August

Just played some catch up ;)

September

Rory turned into a toddler,

had an almost meltdown,

and went to another blogger meetup.

October

I turned 25,

wrote down the words Rory knows,

and walked away from a potential house disaster.

November

Andrew came home from his first business trip away from us,

which was difficult to say the least!

We bought a house!

December

AYT had their Grand Opening,

we had a neighborhood potluck,

celebrated 3 years of marriage,

Andrew and I became an aunt and uncle to little Liam!

And we had the best Christmas!

Happy New Year lovelies!

Christmas ;)

Oh Christmas!

What a great holiday ;)

We were thoroughly spoiled and Rory enjoyed her first "real" Christmas.

She mostly understood what was happening,

and LOVED helping us hand out presents ;)

Unwrapping presents?

She couldn't really care less hahaha

she would get frustrated when it didn't come out ;)

 

Uncle Trevor has become her go-to man for help,

it's adorable!

This amulet from Sofia the First has easily been her favorite gift!

Best part?!

It was a giveaway win!

So I didn't even have to buy it and she loves it!

We also gave her the Princess Klip Klop Stable from Fischer Price

which today she's finally getting the hang of haha

AND she got the Princess Castle from Fischer Price from our friend Nancy

(who also gave us the Jag)

And a bathtime Ariel doll with a color changing fin ;)

She loves that also hahaha

Daddy got himself crowned prince of the DC/Marvel universe

(Marvel pj pants and Superman shirt)

We each got a fun can of chicken noodle soup ;)

Mine was Disney Princess and Andrew's was Phineas and Ferb!

Our family is big on puzzles/scavenger hunts

GG and Papa gave Rory a little bike ;)

Although we discovered that it can't turn unless you move it.

As in the handlebars move,

but they don't actually move the wheels.

SUPER weird!

But it's adorable and she loves riding around with her basket full ;)

Andrew has been coveting his gift for a long time!

He LOVES to cook

(as you all know)

and this is one appliance we kept putting off cuz we just didn't have the money,

but I found a KILLER deal and lo and behold:

A fryer has made it to the Mills household!
He was so happy and I was so proud of myself ;)

Little Liam (and Nick and Emily)

came for a little bit before they went home and crashed!

Poor things have been out for hours on end since he was born!

They deserve a nice long break ;)

Such a little bug ;)

We got a whole bathroom setup from my parents too!

 
Can ya tell I may like Mickey just a smidge??? ;)
Rory will now ask to go see "the potty" hahaha

My dad handed me his Canon so that we covered both sides of the room

so we were having a flash war hahaha 

Then because he knows I've been wanting one for awhile,

and he has many cameras,

he GAVE me the Canon for Christmas ;)

I may have cried a little!

I love the camera Andrew gave me a couple years ago but this camera

is such a big step up and I'm so excited to learn how to use it!

He gave me a crash course

(with promises of follow ups if I want)

and we did some test shots ;)

It may not look like much BUT

I love that it captured Rory playing with her toys and the cat

finally be able to get to the sill hahaha

On Christmas Eve,

we pulled out the baby chair we used for Rory so Liam

could sleep undisturbed

(and arms wouldn't get sore)

and Rory was very protective ;)

 

She's gonna be a great big sister someday ;)

My parents also gave us tickets to Peter and the Star Catchers!!

My mom had asked me a few months ago if we wanted to buy in the group

but we just couldn't afford it with buying a house,

so I was completely surprised when we opened them!

AND tickets to The Black Mustache Theatre!

I'm so excited for this too! ;)

They performed at the Grand Opening of the theatre

and they sounded hilarious so I can't wait to see them in person!

I hope your Christmas was merry and bright!

What were some of your favorite gifts?

Merry Christmas Loves!

From my family to yours,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Photos by Photography Hill

Hope it's filled with bright lights, love, and many fun memories ;)

News!!!

So remember that I've been telling you 

That I'm gonna be an aunt finally??

Well, little Liam made his appearance yesterday afternoon!!

I'm sooooo happy to finally be an aunt!

Now I understand all the hoopla about Rory with my siblings and such ;)

He's adorable and mom is doing fine now

after a couple complications post baby,

thanks to prayers and thoughts from you! 

So here he is!!

Rory was confused at first cuz Liam was now alive 

and not in Emily's tummy anymore hahaha

She calls him LeeMee for some reason.....not sure why hahaha

Welcome to the family Liam Michael! 

We love you so much already!! ;)

Weekend Shenanigans

So this weekend was insane!

It was awesome too though ;)

Friday I got to have a girls night with Hope and Allie 

which always makes me soo happy!

It was desperately needed, full of singalongs to Frozen, 

present wrapping, new house touring,

and lots of laughs and giggles ;)

Saturday was AYT's Grand Opening of the Tuscany Theatre ;)

This is our seat we sponsor in the theatre!!

I wanted to sit in it but they were seating for a show 

so I just snapped these real quick.

We had so much fun hanging out with all the peeps,

and SANTA was there!

 

My dad makes the cutest Santa thank you very much ;)

I don't think Rory knew it was grandpa but his voice soothed her

which helped a lot ;)

This was also her first time meeting Santa so I think it went wonderful.

And after we left the line she begged to go back
so Andrew took her back to say hi

a second time and my dad pulled the beard down a bit 

and she got really confused haha

So much fun and I ate way too much popcorn,

cinnamon rolls,

and mint brownies!

That night we had a HUGE neighborhood potluck!

Cut off the street with cones so the kids could run rampant,

opened all the doors,

put together our fire pit finally and met almost all of our neighbors!

It was seriously so much fun!!

We also realized that we're the only house on the street with no Christmas lights

hahahaha but everyone said we get one year off since we just moved in ;)

Whew!

Andrew made empanadas which impressed all of our Hispanic neighbors

and he dazzled them with his Spanish ;)

Next door they let Rory just sit and watch their lit present 

that opens and closes haha

she was in seventh heaven!

We went back in the house about 8:30 cuz Rory was exhausted

(we'd been out there since 4)

and Andrew had a final to finish but we felt all warm and fuzzy inside ;)

I can't wait to break out the fire pit more often and get to know everyone even better ;)

A Plea

Ok guys.

I need to vent a bit here.

So I'm on FB looking at my feed when I see this article pop up.

Go ahead and read it,

I'll still be here ;)

Read it?

Awesome, let's continue.

Um WHA?!

Why on earth would you take an already beautiful woman and "fix" her?

I felt this sense of betrayal for lack of better word.

And not betrayed by J-Law (cuz come on, WHO could hate her!?)

But I felt more than I've ever felt before that I couldn't possibly be good enough 

for the world to see if they had to "fix" one of the most gorgeous girls on the planet!

How is that right?!

This sparked a conversation between me and a couple friends on FB.

All of us outraged by this act.

I've said it before,

and I'll say it again I'm sure,

but why do we beat ourselves up about our bodies?

And I'm guilty of it too!

I will look at others blogs and ask 

"why do they look this good when I'm a tub of lard?"

(and yes I know exercise and whatnot,

but let's just focus on the comparison right now mmmk?)

Then we see all these ads on TV for bras

or perfume or whatever

and these women look starved,

whore-ish (forgive my French)

and quite frankly it terrifies me.

More because I will sit there looking at them and think

"Gosh if I only looked like them....."

NO NO NO NO NO!

You guys all know that I've struggled with my body image since I was very young.

From about age 7 I was told I was fat from other kids,

looking back I so was not but the comments were there,

therefore they were in my head.

All throughout my life I have been on the heavier side of the spectrum.

I've never been a size 2, heck I've never really been a size single digits!

And when I was pregnant I was like,

"well at least now there's a legit reason why I'm big"

(and I wasn't even that big guys...)

AFTER having Rory I would see all these women that had babies

"bounce back" into their high school jeans,

or a bikini or whatever.

And I sat there thinking "I'll NEVER fit into my high school jeans again,

and WHY would I wear anything that would show my stretch marks?"

And I would judge myself.

(I'm also blaming hormones just a bit here cuz they did play a factor)

Since talking to Andrew, my mom, my grandma, my friends

(aka anyone that would listen to me complain....sorry guys!)

wasn't helping me at all,

it really only made me feel worse,

I decided to stop complaining.

I decided to just accept the fact that I'm still not like society's norm

and I probably never will be.

And guess what?

IT'S OK!

Cuz guess what?

I MADE A HUMAN BEING IN MY TUMMY,

and I gave birth to an amazing daughter who loves me regardless.

So suck on that society!

We as women, mothers, daughters, sisters, granddaughters, grandmothers,

friends, teachers, wives, companions

NEED to stand up for ourselves.

If we don't "fit the mold",

who cares?

Society will take an absolutely gorgeous woman like Jennifer Lawrence

and "make her better" in PhotoShop.

Why?

Because we let them manipulate us into thinking we're not worth it.

WE ARE!

Stop the hurtful statements to yourself,

or to others.

Stop beating yourself up for having a bowl of ice cream when you just really need it.

Stop trying to become this "perfect being".

YOU ARE PERFECT.

*end rant*

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Why is it that the most wonderful time of the year is also

the most stressful and busy!?

I mean really! 

You can never get to ALL the holiday parties people are throwing,

or get to every concert, caroling, etc.

Makes me stressed just thinking about it hahaha

So instead of continuing to stress about it,

I'm gonna sip some hot cocoa and blog again about my adorable daughter 

and you're all gonna like it, mmmmk? ;)

So first,

this has now happened:

 

I realized after teaching her this

that I have a nephew due at the end of the month......

soooooo I need to find a way to turn that into 

"Who's my favorite girl??"

Cuz of course now everyone asks her that question hahaha

Don't want Liam to get a complex!

We're trying to teach Rory boundaries

and since I didn't want to deal with the baby gates anymore,

she pretty much gets to roam wherever she wants.

The only thing we've told her not to touch are the movies.

 

Therefore we must get as close as possble to them

WITHOUT touching them hahaha

it's hilarious!

She got some new PJs when she and I survived our first

trip to WalMart out here hahaha

Took 2 hours to find everything and get checked out and home!

It was ridiculous!

But is there anything cuter than a freshly bathed babe

in footie pajamas?!

And then these jammies for when she peed right out of her diaper

onto the footies hahahaha

It's FINALLY getting cold around here in AZ ;)

But she and I were not as prepared as we thought,

so therefore scarves were needed!

She refused socks......

She currently LOVES to snuggle with anything resembling soft.

But only for like a milisecond,

so having it on camera is exciting!

I hope you all have a great week!

I should have more fun things to post about

later this weekend with the AYT Grand Opening!!