Big News!

I've been working hard this semester at WSU Tri-Cities, especially in my History classes! And I got a recommendation from my History professor to study abroad! I've done lots of research on where I want to go and even did a project on the city itself and one of the cities most cherished historical figures, William Wallace! I chose Stirling, Scotland! I want a city rich in history, and not too big, so I can make friends easily and not feel overwhelmed, and yet close enough to take a train to the bigger cities, Glasgow or Edinburgh! I've even made a few friends via facebook, with students who go to University of Stirling, Rachel, Nicholas, and Fanis! So far they've shown me so much kindness and given good advice, which helps make this experience even easier and that much more enjoyable! I've chosen my classes, all history classes of course, and all European history classes, one is even about witchcraft in early modern Scotland! How interesting! I start school there spring semester 2011 which is in January and will stay through summer school, which last til August! And I've already got two of my best friends, Raquel and Bethany, that have made promises to visit me while I'm abroad! I'm hoping more of my friends make that choice too!! And my parents are soooo excited to visit, my mom's been looking up all sorts of pics and info on Stirling at work lol! And I know my father will enjoy the visit especially since he is the one who gave me this strong wanting to learn about history in the first place.

I'll be sure to keep in touch, you know me, I love to write letters! And I'll share my journey with you all through this blog! My beautiful cousin Bey bought me a journal for my "adventures" in Scotland! She's so sweet! I'm sooooo excited to get there that often I'm finding it hard to sleep these days! But I have a fun summer ahead of me with weddings, baby shower, x-mas break and then it will be time to go to Scotland! Love you all! Hugs & Kisses -Aariann

Breathing treatments for Ava :(

My poor wittle wubbie, niece Ava, has to have breathing treatments due to the RSV she had when she was just two weeks old, she's a strong and brave little baby! Today my mom (gamma) and I are baby-sitting her and Oliver! As I'm writing this I can hear Oliver making little noises as he puts his toys in his new shopping cart gamma bought him! Oliver has a cold but is being a good little boy, sniffles and all! These two babies are truly blessings in my life!!

updates!

Dana and baby Emma are doing great in New Mexico! I can't wait to hold lil Em this summer!

Bethany is working on her Master's degree, go Beezy!


Lyndsay is a newlywed and enjoying her time in Montana with hubby Chris!

Whitney is enjoying her new house, which is so cute by the way, and loving her time with her BF Aaron!

Raquel is quite the little teeth puller!! She is working hard in Philadelphia, she's a cute little dentist!

Kristin is loving her new doggie Yogi and of course don't forget Ducati! And working hard down in Texas, I miss her and her sweet souther accent!

Ashley is in her 23rd week of pregnancy and is absolutely glowing!! I love her and her wittle baby growing inside her!


Nikki is Ms. Davis!! I'm so proud of her, she's teaching in Pasco, and I'm sure the kids love her!

Michelle has moved back to the Tri and is finishing her degree this semester! Hopefully this summer her and I will go on many walks together like the good old days!

New Friend and Vinyl Artwork for my wubbies!

Today I got a chance to get to know a girl I went to High School with better! I have to say I do love Facebook for reconnecting friends or just making new friends! Jamie and I met for coffee at Starbucks, and what was supposed to be a little gift swap ended up being a great conversation about life, love, and goals! We talked for over an hour and a half and it felt great to make a new friend :)

Jamie makes custom vinyl lettering boards, and she made me two boards to give to my cute little nephew Oliver and sweet little ladybug niece Ava! I will take better pics of her artwork when I give the gifts to the babies tomorrow night, Blair has a better camera phone, but here's a sneak peak!

quote

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about what I want and this quote applies to me at this point in time. And I've made some decisions this week, not going to spill them on here just yet, but let's just say I'm looking forward to the future!

John Keats and Jane Austen

"......But for Love! Can I help it? You are always new. The last of your kisses was ever the sweetest; the last smile the brightest; the last movement the gracefullest. When you pass'd my window home yesterday, I was fill'd with as much admiration as if I had then seen you for the first time." - John Keats to Fanny Brawne

I love history, and I love movies and books that take place in old Europe! Non-fiction or fictional, if it takes place in old Europe, I'm interested! I recently watched the movie "Bright Star" which is about the poet John Keats and his love for Fanny Brawne and his untimely death. I'm not the best at understanding poetry, nor am I a poet in the slightest. But I'm reading the book about him now. I find it so wonderful that poets and writers (ex: Jane Austen) live on through their words. I read anything that has to do with Jane Austen, and watch the movie "Pride and Prejudice" about 4 times a month, if not more! I'm also doing more research on Jane Austen and her short life as well. She was so talented in writing love stories and yet she died unmarried. I love the movie about her love affair with Thomas Lefroy, I often watch it and shut it off before they have to break it off. That way I pretend she had a happy ending herself :)

This is my favorite picture from the movie "Becoming Jane". Awe how I want to fall in love....

My Baby Boo Oliver

My baby boo!! I got the pleasure to baby-sit my lil guy while Blair ran errands and had doctor appointments for Ava! Oliver has turned out to be a pretty mild tempered lil guy, and is quite easy to baby-sit! I lucked out! Or should I say Blair lucked out by having such a well behaved baby! This weekend we will finally be celebrating his birthday! I will post pics asap!

Red Square!

Awe...Russia...oh how I want to visit there! I'm taking a Russian history class, and loving it! I can't quite tell you why I love this country and why I'm so fascinated by it but I really am. I've been looking for classes for me to take to learn the language, but WSU Tri-Cities does not offer it...so I'm still looking, I may have to buy Rosetta Stone, pricey, but I hear it is helpful in learning foreign languages. When I have a child, I will most definitely have them learn Russian, and so therefore I need to know what my little rugrat is saying! :)

In Class we are going over the Romanov era, which is so intereseting! Luckily I have an edge on everyone else in the class because I've already done research on the Romanov family and their murder long ago.

So basically, I just wanted to share with you one of my favorite pictures, the Red Square in Moscow! I shall go there within the next few years! I can't wait!

Momma Dana!!

My cousin Dana is doing much better! She is making her transition into mommyhood so smoothly!! I recently got to talk with Dana on a LONG phone conversation that will rack up my phone bill for sure LOL! But I got to hear all the details about Emma's birth and how her and Joel are adjusting to parenthood, it was soooo good to have a long talk with my cousin! I miss her lots and unfortunately will not be able to visit her for spring break because my dumb professors decided to load a whopper of assignments for spring break :( ...hopefully I will be able to visit when school ends! Plus we're all hoping Dana's mom flys Dana's fam up for a visit so the whole fam can meet Joel and Emma, Dana wants to definitely show them off! Emma is now a whopping 6 pounds!! LOL that lil rugrat is tiny!! But momma Dana is so proud!! I love to see her this happy, tired...but happy!!

Cake!!

Happy Birthday Oliver!! We still haven't been able to celebrate Oliver's birthday as a fam, but Blair and Jay baked him a cake and let him go at it, true one year old style!! Atta boy Oliver!!

Ava is back home!

Ava is back home!! She survived the virus and respirtory therapies, poor wittle girl! She's had a rough welcoming into this world with her umbillical cord being in a knot and then the virus! She's proven to be a tough lil cookie that's for sure! I'm so thankful she's home with my sister now! Since Ava's been sick, we didn't get to celebrate Oliver's first birthday :( but we will soon and I will be sure to post pics! Thanks to everyone for their support for Ava! Much love, Aariann

Grandma with Ava!

stars

It's March 1st today, and this day used to be a day of celebration. Our family has had too many deaths in the month of February, and so we sort of became a bit superstitious of this used to be "dreaded" month. But now, our family has a lot to celebrate in the month of February! Ava and Oliver were both welcomed into this world in February!! They both are truly miracles! And another addition to the family is baby Emma! I'm so thankful for them! Cousin Karis and Wendy also have birthdays in February and so now instead of mourning during the month of February, we not only celebrate life, but celebrate the lives that once were led. ♥



"PERHAPS THEY ARE NOT STARS, BUT RATHER OPENINGS IN HEAVEN WHERE THE LOVE OF OUR LOST ONES POURS THROUGH AND SHINES DOWN UPON US TO LET US KNOW THEY ARE HAPPY"

Mishu ♥

I've been blessed with a great group of gals as my best friends, and one of them lives in Texas, and has a bad case of walking pneumonia :( my poor Kristin!! I hope you get better my lovebug!! "MISHU"

Ashley and Joel ♥

One of my best friends ever is 18 weeks pregnant!!! And she just found out she's having a girl!! I'm soooo excited for her and know she will make an excellent mother! She is truly blessed! And I wish her baby lots of good health and happiness!! Joel and Ashley, I love you guys! xoxo

Whitney gets herself a house!!

My little, well not so little anymore lol, cousin Whitney, just moved into her first house with her boyfriend Aaron! And I am so excited for them! I wish them luck and love!!

Oliver loves bath time!

Mom and I tend to get over excited over the simplest things Oliver does! LOL! so try to not pay attention to us! He's so cute!!

Ava has RSV :(

Poor baby Ava has a respitory virus called RSV, and is in the hospital taking in antibiotics and oxygen, and has respitory therapy every three hours...we're all praying for a speedy recovery for my wittle wubbster!!

Dana delivers baby Emma!!

My beautiful cousin Dana gave birth to her little girl at around 2 a.m. february 19th!! She did such a good job without any of her family there, I'm so proud of her!! And I'm so thankful she had Joel to get her through it! I'll be visiting baby Emma, Dana, and Joel in three weeks down in New Mexico for spring break! I can't wait to just lie around and watch movies and hold baby Emma with Dana! I can't wait to see Dana as a mommy ;) and we'll have lots of fun with that little girl of hers!

Support ASPCA!!

I'm a big fan of ASPCA, and want to encourage others to support them, they do great work for animals in shelters and help find homes for poor wittle wubbies!! I've adopted all my wubbies and they have brought so much joy to my life! They are my little angels, even when getting into trouble LOL! These are pics of my dog Emmy, I also have a lab/corgy named Daisy, and a cat named Chandler Bing!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY WEEKEND EVERYONE!! I'm not a huge fan of this particular holiday...but my lil lovebugs Oliver and Ava will be my valentines this year!! Oliver's still adjusting to having a new sister...he tends to poke her in the face a lot lol, but he also gives her hugs, or we say gives her love!! It's so cute when he does!

Baby shower for Dana!

Last night we had a baby shower for one of my favorite people ever, Dana!!! She lives in New Mexico, so she could not attend, but we had a blast opening her presents, eating cake, and gossipping the night away!! we seriously stayed at Aunt Nancy's til 11:30 chatting away!! Love you Dana! Can't wait to meet Emma!!

Baby Ava arrives!!

Blair had another miracle baby!! Ava was born with a true knot in her embillical cord which the nurse says should have caused a still birth, so Ava is truly a miracle!! The nurse said Ava must have some special purpose on this earth to have survived the knot!!

Baby Oliver was a bit mystified as to what was all going on with his momma, so my cousin Mariah and I took care of that lil guy during the whole ordeal! Thanks Mariah, you are such a sweetheart!

Blair was so lucky to also have her post-birth nurse to be our great childhood friend Ashley Evans!! She took good care of our momma and baby!! ;)

Welcome Baby Ava!! We love you soooooooo much!!