The Ashleys

Saturday, June 23, 2012

30 before I'm 30


Most of the blogs that I read are written by ladies close to my age and I've seen several of these posts. Since today is my 28th bday I figured now would be as good as a time than any to make my list. Honestly we are in such a great season in our life that I don't have 30 things I would like to do before I'm 30 but I do have a few. :) 
*Run a full marathon
*Take a trip out of the country with my handsome husband
*Renew our wedding vows
*Begin looking to buy a house in Auburn
*Learn to sew and then persuade my husband to buy me an embroidery machine
*Go on a cruise
*Take our kids to Disney World
*Learn to love my body

I am sure as time goes on I will come up with things to add to this list and I will continue to update it and hopefully criss things off my list in the next two years.
My biggest goal is to be the best wife and mother to my amazing husband and beautiful babies because they deserve the very best. 

And one pic just because she's so stinkin' cute. :)

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The good life..

We have been having an amazing summer! Quite possibly the best one we've ever had.

We've been playing with frogs. 
Okay not "we," just Kaylee. She plays with frogs while Ethan freaks out because he's scared she'll throw it on him, and I freak out and squeeze half  a bottle of hand sanitizer on her. YUCK!

We've been lookin' super cute in our swim suits and aviators.

I've been workin' on my tan lines.



Lovin' up on each other.

Speakin' of "lovin' up on each other," a few nights ago James and I were told to "get a room," there was no seriously disgusting PDA but how lucky am I to have a marriage that after almost 10 years is more amazing now than it's ever been. I cannot even explain to y'all how grateful I am to have been blessed with the greatest husband ever.


LOVE this man!! 





Saturday, June 16, 2012

SUYL: Bedrooms

Tonight I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner in her SUYL bedrooms. Our bedroom is pretty basic and like the other rooms in our house I've been working on adding some decorations. :)

I LOVE our bed. It's a fairly new piece (and the first bed my husband and I have bought as a couple). It was important that we have a king size since a lot of the times our kids come and join us in bed and that it had that shelf above it. We both always take a drink to bed and we needed that. The picture above the bed is of the two of us at the Auburn/Miss State game last season. In the spirit of full disclosure I NEVER make our bed and it was only made because I had just washed the bed clothes and for this pic. :)

This is the shelf beside our bed and it was just moved into our bedroom because we got a new entertainment center. Some friends built this for us and we love it. I kind of took it over for my jewelry, lotion, nail polishes, and other things.. Oops sorry babe. :) That basket on the bottom is for my husband to toss his laundry into. 


And this is my husband's play land. The tv and PS3 is in the bedroom while the big screen and xbox 360 is in the living room. We watch lots of tv lying in bed at night, and as y'all can see by the Cars cup in front of the tv we are not the type of parents who makes our bedroom "off limits," to the kiddos!

It's a process, slowly but surely we'll be finished with our room decorations, but we love it the way it is. 


Father's Day

My mama always told me to never marry a man who wasn't the type of man I wouldn't want my son to grow up to be and my daughter to grow up to marry. I am so so proud that I can say I took her advice when I married the love of my life.


I love this man more than I ever thought I could love anyone and I am so proud of all he's accomplished and the kind of man and dad he is. There is not another man in the world that I'd rather be raising my children with, and navigating life with by my side. And there is DEFINITELY not another man I would have left my beloved Kentucky for.  Thank you baby for being the best husband and  daddy the kids and I could ever ask for and for always going above and beyond for your family. We love you and Happy Father's Day!!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Boutique

Since I haven't told y'all in a while about my creative talents I thought I'd remind y'all that I semi-actively have a boutique.. Basically I take all of my orders through email or facebook.  I take all my payments through paypal..  If you're interested, email me jamesanddanielleashley@gmail.com and LIKE ME ON FACEBOOK FOR SPECIALS!!
http://www.facebook.com/daniellesladybugboutique

Now on to the cute stuff!! 




























I can do lots of things, so if you're interested in something and you don't see it here, please don't hesitate to comment here or shoot me an email!



Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Followers :)

All the "techie" parts of my blog were done by my amazing husband, so I've actually just gotten around to adding my Twitter button which is now accessible in the right hand column of my blog so y'all can follow me on Twitter now.

Also this blog receives a good bit of traffic:

See those numbers.. 119 views on ONE post but only 3 people are "officially" following. Please take the time to follow my blog especially if you are a regular reader. :) On the right hand column click on "follow" with the google "G" if you have a gmail account and if you don't there's also a button on the right hand column where you can enter your email address and follow that way. 

Thanks y'all! :)

Body Dysmorphia

Confession: I used to be fat. Not plump, not thick, not chubby, but F-A-T. Before I started blogging I probably would have never shared these pictures. :)


See? I told you. After my daughter was born I got serious about losing weight because I knew she was my last child. I lost about 75 lbs in the year after she was born. I've fluctuated by about 10-20 lbs since then but no matter how big or small I am I still have a severe case of body dysmorphia because I always feel fat and am always one of those girls who says just 10 more lbs and I'll be happy. For those of you who have lost weight do you ever get to a point where you're like "okay now I'm happy" I love my body??

My thinnest, a size 3, 120-ish and IMPOSSIBLE to maintain without killing myself, and I still thought I was fat then, ha.

This is my "now" and what I think my body's happy weight is. Sure I'm still counting my calories and working out everyday but I still see so many flaws when I look in the mirror.

Another now.. I want to be toned and athletic, not skinny. 

I reckon my attitude needs as much work (or more) than my body. I want to love my body the way it is, but dang is perfect abs and small hips too much to ask for? :)






Monday, June 11, 2012

A little bit of Summer.

It feels like it's been Summer in Auburn forever. We didn't really have much of a Winter which was really nice! Occasionally we've had a few days where it's been a little chilly but it looks like it's going to be wet and nasty for the next 4 or 5 days at least.

Yuck! That's pretty depressing!

We left so many of our decor and "extra" things we didn't really need in our house in Kentucky. We had room in the Uhaul for the things we HAD to have. We even re-purchased beds and a dresser for the kids when we got here because we couldn't fit them in the Expedition or the Uhaul so I'm just slowly buying things to decorate as we go.. I've bought a few items lately to homey things up a little bit.

This is a centerpiece on my coffee table I got from my inlaws for Christmas that I actually just took out of the box last week. We were at TJ Maxx and I saw one and started to buy it but then I kept thinking I already had one. Sure enough it was in my Expedition.. Haha. 

A canvas painting I got that I love and James hates.

Another one.. This one is in my bathroom.

I got a great deal on this rug at Walmart. Only $13 I was excited!! Now if I could find a big one for around that price to go under my dining room table I'd be THRILLED!

And my last and favorite purchase. Two things I bought today to brighten this gloomy day and Summer my house up. :)
A Summer table cloth and centerpiece. That vase is beautiful! I got it and the "flowers" in it from Ross. It smells so good too! Kaylee keeps climbing up in the chair to smell it. :)

And just for fun, a few cute pics of the kiddos. 

An older picture but it always makes me smile.

She's really concentrating on that color sheet.

Playing games on a cell phone already? That girl is growin' up way too fast!

Sweet!

Haha! Silly kids!

I am so so so proud of my sweet babies. A neighbor stopped me today to tell me how well mannered my children are. They are such a handful but such a blessing.