Monday, February 20, 2012

Oh Joy!

I have had the joy of seeing my little niece, Cora, a lot in the last few weeks. Sometimes I secretly wish she and my sister could live with me all the time! She is such a happy child. Her sweet baby giggles far exceed any crying - how can you not love that?

I was lucky enough to have a lunch date with this fine lady on her very first birthday. I’m fairly certain that I caught her saying my name on video!




Shayla had a birthday party for her the next day with lots of family and friends. She didn’t dive into her cake as much as I thought she would but she certainly had a great time. She really took home a good load of clothes and toys.


This past weekend Daniel and I had a slumber party with Cora! Shay dropped her off in the cute pink giraffe jammies that I got her for her bday and we played all night (seriously, she didn’t fall asleep until 11:30!) She was so exhausted that she almost slept for twelve whole hours. I woke up to Daniel and Cora having a stare down and Dan asking if he could get Cora out of her pack n play. She was awfully cuddly first thing in the morning then she was off for more shenanigans again!



She is such a big blessing in such a tiny package. I can’t wait until the next time we get to play together :)

Thursday, November 10, 2011

PUMPKINS (a few days late)

This is more of a "Halloweeny" post but I felt the need to share it anyway.  Every year Daniel and I get together with his family (aunts, uncles, gma, parents, cousins, the whole lot) and carve pumpkins.  It is a ton of fun!  I started carving before I met Dan but I'm glad that I'm marrying into a family that enjoys this fall past time as much as I do.

My tools for a successful carving are as follows: a trip to the pumpkin patch to hand pick the perfect pumpkin; patience (who knew I had those??); a sharp, small knife; and some serious elbow grease to get the wall of the pumpkin pretty darn thin!

Here are the pumpkins Daniel and I carved this year - and a few from previous years. Enjoy!







Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Brief Encounter with Craziness

Well, I'd like to think that it was a brief encounter, some of you may feel otherwise :)

Daniel and I entered into a contest last week to win $1,000 off of our wedding photos with a local photography company (along with 29 other couples).  The results were as follows: we ended up with over 400 votes in less than three days; we got third place; and after staying calm throughout the entire three days, I temporarily went insane for the last hour of the competition!

Although we didn't win the big prize (the couple that did beat us by over 100 votes!) we did receive a little over $500 toward our wedding photos if we choose to use the company.  We are interviewing a few photography places in the area and hopefully by the end of 2011 we will have narrowed down our search.  (Feel free to give us any referrals you may have!!)

I would say that we're on a pretty awesome start to the planning.  We have made our deposit on the venue, purchased my dress, engagement pictures are finished, contacted our cake lady, have hair/makeup consultants lined up, have our caterer down, have a DJ lined up, appointments with the flower lady and bridal salons are made, and the list goes on and on :)

I'm am pretty proud of us - we work so well as a team!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Ashley Farley: Wedding Planner Extraordinaire

Eh... not exactly but I'm having a ton of fun trying!!

Daniel and I looked at a venue (more like THE venue) for our nuptials next fall.  It is seriously everything we want and more - close to home, beautiful view for our outside wedding and reception, and sleeping room for out of town guests and our rowdy friends!!

Laura was kind enough to get me a beautiful notebook for organizing all of my ideas.  I have a good start but I know there is a long road of planning ahead of me.  I am truly a DIY'er when it comes to throwing parties and I cannot wait to put my personal touch on this wedding.  I am very fortunate to have a fiance who describes his perfect wedding as "marrying me, with our families and friends, and cold beer."  I think I can work with that!!

On another note. One of my dearest/bestest best friends got married on Saturday.  I was SO honored to be a part of this day and I can say she couldn't have looked more beautiful.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Coming soon: Mrs. Ashley Landis!!


The Story

In February I bought a Groupon for professional photos.  Daniel and I had been dating for over three years and we didn't have any photos that I wanted to put in the frames that my sister got me for Christmas.  So, I decided that we had been dating for long enough and it was okay to finally get some nice pictures (something other than snapshots).  I talked to the photographer Megan shortly after I bought the Groupon and we started talking about fall dates, we chose Sunday September 18th.

As picture time got closer I started getting really nervous.  It had been been on and off raining all week and at one point in time the prediction was 80% chance.  I was also nervous because I had never had someone I didn't know take pictures of me.  My senior pictures were taken by a friend of my mom.  I just wanted them to turn out good.

So, little did I know that Daniel thought this was the perfect opportunity to propose to me.  He talked to Megan ,without me knowing, to fill her in on his plan.  He also talked to his parents, my dad (went to his house to ask to marry me), my sister, my brother, his brother, a few of my friends, a few of his friends, his softball team, and everyone at his work.  So basically everyone but me!  She got to our house on time and we decided to go down to the dam for our first shots.  We took a photo that I considered a "prom pose" so Megan suggested that we do a not so promy-pose.  Right then is when Daniel looked at me and said (getting down on one knee) "Ashley Denise Farley, I love you.  I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I hope you want to spend yours with me.  Will you marry me?"  (Well, it was something similar to that!) Megan got paparazzi pics of the whole thing (even me seriously bawling my head off)  We went inside to touch up my makeup and the next hour she took pics of us with our freshly engaged glow :).  I love that we had that hour to smile and kiss and say "I can't believe this" one million times.  We waited until Megan left to start calling our families and friends.

This was such a special day for the two of us.  I had absolutley no idea that he was planning on proposing to me during pictures.  I love the fact that I met Daniel at his house (that was his grandpa's house where he used to play as a kid), we got engaged at that house, and we will live the rest of our lives at that house!! There is so much family history that I know he is proud of and I am thrilled to be a part of!

I couldn't be happier. My heart has been completely melted for the last few days.  We are so blessed to have so much love and support from everyone!

Here are some "sneak peak" pictures of our picture session.


Thursday, September 15, 2011

One happy lady

From the dictionary of Ashley:

Fall - [fawl] - pure happiness exploding with leggings, boots, scarfs (all of which I'm wearing today), sweaters, sweatshirts, pumpkin EVERYTHING (food and carving), cinnamon, carmel apples, beautiful trees, KU football, World Series baseball, tailgates, and bonfires.

This time of year and weather makes me one happy lady!